Nov.4 (GMM) Sunday at Interlagos may have been worth a whopping 30 million euros to the struggling Alpine team.
That’s the admission of the team’s famous new executive advisor Flavio Briatore, who amid the decision to scrap owner Renault’s works F1 engine program for 2026 has been brought back in to revive the outfit’s fortunes.
Alpine started Sunday’s Brazilian GP second to last in the constructors’ championship, amid a period of intense leadership stability and a highly uncompetitive car.
By the end of the race in often torrential conditions, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were both standing on the podium along with Max Verstappen. The massive points haul skyrocketed the team to sixth overall, leapfrogging Williams, RB and Haas.
“Without taking anything away from an incredible Ocon in the wet and a Gasly who did his job well, today we were also lucky,” Briatore told Sky Italia.
“I think we have a car that is better in the wet. Unfortunately I don’t think the next three races will be wet,” the Italian lamented. “But today we saw with all these young drivers presented as a new phenomena how much experience still counts in Formula 1.”
The 74-year-old freely admits that his focus since arriving at Enstone has not been on drastically improving the 2024 car.
“This year we did more of a house cleaning,” said Briatore, “and we’re still doing it. We made only one real evolutionary step so as not to disturb the 2025 project, and the step we took was in the direction of 2025 in any case. That is all I authorised.
“It went well, because this year many teams took steps back when they brought updates. So well done to our engineers.”
Briatore, the architect of title-winning successes for the team’s former guises as Benetton and Renault, is famed for running lean operations that are nonetheless successful.
He said: “We need to get back to having people working for a racing team and not for a corporate company. We have gone back to how Renault was before.
“Those who are left exclusively deal with the team and F1. Everyone else has gone,” revealed Briatore. “When I arrived there were 1150 people, now we are 850.”
He made clear that he fully supports Renault CEO Luca de Meo’s decision to scrap Renault’s works F1 engine program at the end of next year.
“We have put things back the way they should be, with the team based in Great Britain independent from everything else,” said Briatore.
Briatore admitted he does not expect Alpine to post another similar result next time out in Las Vegas.
“In Vegas we will certainly suffer because it is an engine circuit. In the wet, the difference in engine power is effectively zeroed out,” he said.
“We must make up for this deficit for 2025, as we are missing about three tenths just in engine. But we still need to do well by improving aerodynamically and with the tyres, without feeling sorry for ourselves.”
If Alpine can now hang on to sixth overall in the constructors’ championship, with both Haas and RB within a few points with three races still to run, Sunday in Brazil will be remembered as a huge pay-day for the struggling outfit.
“From ninth place to sixth place is not 30 million (euros),” Briatore informed the Sky Italia interviewer. “It’s 29.2 million. It’s the first thing I asked,” he smiled.
“In any case, today we saw an incredible grand prix.”