Alpine government adviser Flavio Briatore insists the group isn’t on the market and that he has no plans to chop jobs at its UK base.
The 74-year-old former Renault group boss, introduced in to reverse Alpine’s declining fortunes, mentioned: “One thing could be very clear. Nothing is on the market.
“[Renault chief executive officer] Luca de Meo would not need to promote the group. Query finito [finished].”
Briatore, talking on the Dutch Grand Prix in his first media briefing since becoming a member of Alpine in June, mentioned his “practical” ambition was for the group to “rating some podiums in 2027”.
He additionally mentioned that the group’s UK base in Enstone “didn’t want so many individuals”.
However when questioned as as to whether that meant he was planning to chop jobs, he mentioned: “I do not need to minimize jobs. We’d like effectivity. We’d like folks very skilled. I do not need to hearth anyone.”
Briatore additionally insisted it was not his thought to shut the Renault Components 1 engine manufacturing facility in Viry-Chatillon close to Paris, a call that’s being thought-about by the Renault board and shall be determined subsequent month.
“I am not the dangerous man on a regular basis,” Briatore mentioned. “Every thing else you’ll be able to blame on me, however not this.”
Renault, Alpine’s dad or mum firm, is deciding whether or not to desert its F1 engine programme, which began in 1977, and switch the group right into a buyer outfit that buys Mercedes engines from 2026.
Explaining why the choice was being thought-about, Briatore mentioned: “The issue is the proof. However no matter our chairman decides is okay with me.”
His remarks are a reference to the truth that Renault has been lagging behind its power-unit producer rivals since hybrid engines had been launched to F1 in 2014.
And he pointed to McLaren’s success this season as proof {that a} group didn’t have to be affiliated with a works engine programme from a automobile producer to be aggressive.
On Friday, an electronic mail was despatched to some media by an Alpine workers committee expressing its opposition to the plan to shut Viry.
It insisted that the programme designing the engine for the brand new F1 guidelines being launched in 2026 was properly superior and that outcomes had been “promising”.
It mentioned that solely 20% of the Alpine group’s present efficiency deficit to the entrance runners was brought on by the engine and the remaining by the chassis – designed at Enstone within the UK.
The e-mail mentioned the UK manufacturing facility “struggles to solidify its construction amid successive modifications in course”.
That could be a reference to the sequence of main administration modifications at Alpine within the final 12 months or so, which has seen a chief government officer and two group principals be eliminated, and quite a lot of different senior figures both be sacked or depart.
Briatore admitted that the “drawback of Alpine was no administration – they selected a number of mistaken managers”.
Final month, Briton Oliver Oakes was appointed the brand new group principal and his predecessor Bruno Famin moved again to work in Viry.
Briatore mentioned Oakes was “enthusiastic, younger and impressive – he has no expertise [in F1] however he has the alent to achieve success”.
Oakes was recruited after a sequence of interviews, Briatore mentioned, which satisfied him he was the precise man for the job.
Oakes mentioned he described Briatore’s affect on the group since his appointment as “the Flavio twister”.
Oakes, for whom it is a first job in F1 after operating the Hitech group in junior classes, mentioned: “Enstone has been mismanaged for fairly a number of years. We now have to get again to specializing in racing.”
Briatore mentioned: “We have to clear up the home. You want the house clear to verify everyone seems to be working collectively. You must encourage everybody.”
