Briatore discloses surprise Alonso F1 offer

Alpine adviser Flavio Briatore has revealed Fernando Alonso received a contract offer from Williams prior to his Aston Martin switch at the start of last year.

The Italian manages the two-time F1 drivers' champion, who re-joined Team Enstone - and departed again - before he took up his current role in early 2024.

Briatore led the outfit to multiple titles as Benetton and later Renault, with Alonso claiming his two crowns with the latter in 2005 and 2006. 

When speaking about his decision to return full-time to F1, the 74-year-old made the unprompted admission about the Spaniard's contract offer from Grove, almost as if a throwaway comment.

He also detailed what drew him back to the team, having left in disgrace in the wake of the Crashgate saga, a dark episode for F1 that saw him receive a now-overturned ban from the championship.

"I was never really away," Briatore explained to Auto Motor und Sport. "In the meantime, I was an ambassador for the sport for Stefano Domenicali and worked with him on new races and marketing opportunities.

"And as Fernando Alonso's manager, I was always in contact with the scene.

"Formula 1 never really lets you go. I admit, I missed it. And then I had a conversation with Luca de Meo [Renault CEO]. I've known him for ages. I told him that it was sad to see a former world champion team in this state."

Alonso wanted to stay at Alpine

When describing how the opportunity at Alpine came to pass, Briatore touched upon the ineptitude within the team at the time Alonso was most recently there, something that led to it losing two drivers in short succession - and in now infamous circumstances.

The Italian explained that initially Alonso had wanted to remain put, but former Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi went off the radar, opening the door to other opportunities, including Williams.

"In the beginning, the idea was to help [at Alpine] a little," he shared. "I wasn't sure because so much has changed in Formula 1. We talked about the last few years of Alpine in a very non-committal way. 

"It takes a lot of inability to lose two drivers like Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri in one summer. Fernando wanted to stay because the season before wasn't that bad. We wanted to sign the contract in Canada.

"Then Laurent Rossi suddenly disappeared. We could no longer contact him. That was the moment when I started talking to Lawrence Stroll from Aston Martin," he recalled.

"We even had an offer from Williams. I said to them: get your shop in order first," Briatore added. "In the end, we signed with Aston Martin because we couldn't get on with Alpine's management."

He concluded by tying the two events together, stating: "The faults lay with the management. I said to Luca: If I get full responsibility, I'll do it."