The position of Alpine’s Formula 1 boss and what will happen to the team have been key questions in the wake of a key exit at the very top of Renault.
Luca de Meo, the man responsible for the team’s Alpine rebrand in 2021 and who brought in Flavio Briatore last year to run the team, will step down as Renault Group CEO in July.
De Meo hired Flavio Briatore as his executive advisor, bringing the controversial ex-Benetton and Renault F1 boss back into the fold for a third stint in charge of the F1 project. Briatore then assumed all remaining team principal responsibilities, without taking on that title itself, when Oliver Oakes resigned suddenly in May.
Briatore told Reuters at the previous race in Canada that de Meo's exit changed nothing for him or the team. But as this was just hours after de Meo’s exit was announced it was a very provisional, personal assessment.
The proximity to the news, the need for Briatore to meet with Renault’s board management, and the fact a new CEO had not been identified meant knowing exactly what Renault's new vision would be - and whether F1 would be part of it - was impossible.
To settle the situation in the short-term during de Meo’s exit and the arrival of a new CEO, The Race understands that the Renault Group has reiterated its commitment to F1.
Briatore, who was back at Enstone immediately after the Canadian Grand Prix, told staff there that de Meo’s exit would not change Renault’s support. Briatore is understood to have received assurances from Renault himself and has also been in Paris since to discuss the matter further with board members.
What changes is Briatore will have to deal with the Renault board more directly, rather than liaising with de Meo, until the new CEO starts. While de Meo is still in his role for a couple more weeks, it is expected that any decisions Briatore wants to take - for example, if he finalises a deal for a new team principal or team manager to finally replace Oakes - will need to be run past the board.
An example of Alpine's commitment is there are understood to be new recruitments joining in the coming weeks to further strengthen the team. So it is at least not in a period of limbo where the leadership is frozen and cannot act.
The longer-term plan will then need to be defined by the new Renault CEO, and the power of that position should not be underestimated.
Under de Meo’s leadership, Renault rebranded its F1 team and Renault Sport division entirely in the Alpine image, and decided last year to close down its works engine programme and become a Mercedes customer in 2026.
This has led to repeated speculation about the future of the team, and questions about whether Renault will sell up. De Meo said he would never do that, a message often repeated by his supporters, but his impending exit means it will no longer be his decision and it is unclear which direction Renault’s new leadership will decide to take.
Renault owns 76% of the team having sold the rest to a consortium of US investors in 2023. The new leadership may stand by that arrangement or consider it prudent to sell another minority stake, a majority one, or its entire share, given the significant increase in value the team has enjoyed.
What is known, though, is that Alpine as a brand has been established as a key part of the Renault Group’s strategy, and F1 in turn is integral to extending its reach.
So it would be a significant U-turn to decide now is the moment to cash in more on what the team is worth given the value of an F1 entry is at an all-time high, even the struggling ones.
As for Briatore, he was recruited by de Meo to advise him, rather than taking on an official position within either the F1 team or Alpine/Renault as companies.
It is unclear how Briatore is viewed by others within the Renault or Alpine corporate structure because he was hired independently of it, and so far has existed independently of it because he is not a Renault or Alpine employee and he’s not an F1 team staff member.
He may need to convince the board and the new CEO that his plan for the team will restore it to better form given its competitiveness on-track has dropped over the last 12 months, and Alpine is last in the championship.
In the short-term it is business as usual. Whether the longer-term plan shifts from what de Meo was supposedly wedded to is what will shape the future of Renault’s F1 entry.
