Damning Alpine 'in the shit' phone call revealed

Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore has revealed that he returned to the Enstone-based team following a phone call from Renault CEO Luca de Meo, who informed Briatore that Alpine were "in the shit".

Briatore was formerly the outfit's team principal under the Renault and Benetton names, before being forced to leave after the 'crashgate' scandal. 

The manager of Fernando Alonso offered de Meo advice regarding Alpine when he became Renault CEO in 2020, although failed to listen to the experienced Italian. 

Fast forward to this year, and de Meo called Briatore once again as a result of the team's dire situation at the back of the grid. 

Briatore offered de Meo further advice on how to be successful in F1.

“Luca de Meo, the chairman of Renault, I know Luca for much before he’s arriving in Renault,” said Briatore on the Formula For Success podcast. 

“When he arrived, I gave him some suggestions, ‘Formula 1 is a very difficult business. The people you have are not so good’. He didn’t listen, zero.

“So after three years, he’s called me, we meet, ‘I mean, we are completely in the sh*t with the team’. 

"And I tell Luca, ‘Luca, Formula 1 is a different business. Formula 1, you need to have somebody dedicated to the team. Not be a corporate and not be bureaucracy, the team spirit, etc, etc’."

Briatore's Alpine 'promise'

It was during the recent conversation between the Renault CEO and Briatore that the idea was suggested for the latter to return to Enstone, an opportunity which was accepted. 

There has already been significant change since Briatore's return, with Bruno Famin having been replaced by Oliver Oakes as team principal. 

“And one day we’re talking, he told me, ‘Why don’t you come back to help me?’ And this started the conversation with Luca," he revealed. 

"I know the team, I know the factory, I know everything. So I tell [him], ‘Why not? I need to organise myself completely different, because I don’t want to go to every race. I don’t want to go live in England, maybe one day a week, etc, etc’.

“And this happened, you know, it was my old team. With this team, we won seven championships. And it’s the new challenge, it’s the new motivation. I’m very happy to come back.

"We have a new team principal [Oliver Oakes]. It’s Luca, myself and Oliver is team principal, and we are working like that.”

Briatore intends to remain in his position for the foreseeable future and has made a promise to get Alpine back onto the podium by the end of 2027.

“Alpine, I promise you, give me two years, in two years’ time we see the podium,” Briatore said. “2027 we have a podium.”