Briatore says “wrong managers” hurt Alpine’s F1 fortunes

Alpine Formula 1 advisor Flavio Briatore thinks the team’s fortunes suffered in recent years because the wrong management was in place.

Speaking for the first time in public about his vision for the squad and verdict on why Renault’s works team has slipped down the order, Briatore pointed to prior leadership being to blame.

And this factor he says is one of the chief reasons that he made a quick move to overhaul the top position at the squad, bringing in Oliver Oakes as new team principal before the summer break.

“There was no management,” said Briatore when asked for his explanation as to why Alpine has gone backwards in F1.

“I believe the problem of Alpine was this one. At one point, I believe they chose a few wrong managers. I think the list of the wrong ones was quite long. We have no list of the good ones.

“And it is difficult to manage in Enstone. Enstone is a big team, a big monster, you know. You need to be there. It’s very difficult to manage one team like Alpine from Paris or from another place. You need the presence, daily presence.”

Alpine and Renault have endured a tumultuous recent period, with it having three team bosses in just more than 12 months. Oakes has taken over from Bruno Famin, who himself replaced Otmar Szafnauer after last year’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Briatore believes that Oakes, who is 36, will bring an invaluable injection of youthful enthusiasm to help add a missing spark at Enstone.

“Ollie is enthusiastic, young, ambitious: that’s what we need in the team,” said Briatore. “To turn around this team, you need the young people, you need the people with a lot of passion for the job.

“The people understand the good ones, not the bad ones. The people [need to] understand what’s going on in the factory. The people [need to] understand what’s going on in the race. So, this is the principle, you know. He has no experience of a big team like this one, but [he has] the talent to be successful.”

Oakes said that he felt there was huge untapped potential at the squad based on his first impressions over recent weeks.

“I think first, Enstone has something which money can’t buy: it has a racing spirit, it has a history,” he said.

“You can’t help but go round and find that something that just gives massive passion to making the place where it should be.

“I dare say it’s been mismanaged for quite a few years, and I think it is easy to point the…