Alpine has announced the departure of Davide Brivio, who it hired as racing director at the start of the 2021 season.
His exit comes at the end of a year of upheaval for the team, which fell two places to sixth in the constructors’ championship. Brivio originally reported to CEO Laurent Rossi, who was replaced in July.Soon afterwards Alpine also dispensed with team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane. It also lost its chief technical officer, Pat Fry, to Williams.
Bruno Famin, who took over as interim team principal after Szafnauer’s departure and is the vice-president of Alpine’s motorsport division, refused to comment last month on rumours of Brivio’s impending exit. The team has now confirmed Brivio will leave to “pursue other career opportunities”.
Famin praised Brivio’s work on the team’s junior driver programme, the Alpine Academy, which he took an increased role in at the start of 2022 after he was moved to the role of director of racing expansion projects.
“His experience in motorsports has been extremely valuable, especially in the development and progression of the Alpine Academy,” said Famin. “Davide’s wish is to leave Alpine to pursue other opportunities and we have accepted his desire by mutually agreeing to part ways.”
“I wish the team and the Academy the best in the future and I’m sure we will see many young drivers go on to achieve fantastic things in their careers,” said Brivio. “To play a small part in some of that success will certainly be something I will cherish. I am grateful to Alpine for accommodating my wish to pursue other opportunities.”
Following Brivio’s departure, Alpine announced its interim sporting director Julian Rouse will continue to lead its academy programme.
Brivio is expected to return to MotoGP, having originally joined Alpine from the Suzuki team which he took to championship success in 2020.
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Rolfski (@rolfski)
12th December 2023, 18:06
Another management shift in Alpine, why am I not surprised?
dot_com (@dot_com)
12th December 2023, 18:40
You have to wonder how much longer Alpine will be on the grid, under their current guise at least.
Arthur Zakaryan (@arthurgd3)
12th December 2023, 19:26
Renault is among the Works teams, makes the least amount of sense to be in F1. Ferrari is a luxury supercar brand primarily, MB is the oldest and biggest and probably the most successful luxury car brand ever, McLaren is yet another luxury supercar maker, same for Aston, and Renault doesn’t compete with any of those brands outside of F1 so their presence makes you scratch your head. If they make a competitive powertrain in the 2026 regs then I guess they could stick around but their motorsport history has always been strange. I think rallying makes sense given that the rest of the competitors are similar OEMs but not F1.
Retired (@jeff1s)
13th December 2023, 12:33
As a French, I feel like Alpine is retiring at the end of 2025. They don’t sell their engine now, I’m unsure they develop another PU just for them. They stop and go WEC. Renault has been crappy the last 2 decades with the Crashgate, the Carlos Ghosn story, the Piastri story, the Rossi story… Shame is never-ending here in France.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
15th December 2023, 0:31
too many investors that have no clue. Money does not equate to faith and prosperity.
Ω (@omega)
12th December 2023, 21:04
In other news, Alpine has announced that from 2024 season onward Race Directing, Financial Management, Aero Design, Engine Design, Mechanical Desing, Race Engineering, Pit stops and all logistics will be done solely by Jeff from accounting.
rprp
12th December 2023, 21:24
Well at least the financial management department is going to function alright.
KentWalker3
12th December 2023, 22:21
HAHA!! Perfect!
Dex
13th December 2023, 0:05
This is how they managed state owned companies in the Soviet Union and other communist countries, making random choices without a care for results because everything was owned by everyone, which means no one. I don’t understand why would someone treat a business this way. Renault (“Alpine”) and Haas are my two least favourite teams, for different reasons; and I think that this team is the least likeable of them all. What’s to like and appreciate? They have no charisma, no structure, no plan, they are a true factory team (so there’s no being outsider positive effect on some fans) and some ugly history too. As a cherry on top, they also have one of the most boring and uninspired driver combinations on the grid. I wonder how they still get their financing from the board, and it’s a miracle that they are still not on sale. I guess the only reason is the recent increase of value of F1; it must be a matter of time. It’s a factory team with no realistic prospect of winning anything for the next 10 years at least.
Tristan
13th December 2023, 2:44
A complete and total utter shambles
Paul (@frankjaeger)
13th December 2023, 11:35
Worst team on the grid, so unlikable and dysfunctional
Rom
13th December 2023, 14:40
Said it before but this team has zero identity. Toyota F1 at least had a sense of identity and despite failing, I feel they genuinely tried to be a winner unlike Renault/Alpine. Ask me about any other team and I can tell you what the goal is they’re working towards currently and in the future is. Alpine just has nothing exciting or hopeful going on and I’ve given up on them ever making that step to consistent podium contenders on pure pace alone.
And they have the nerve to complain about not wanting Andretti as an 11th team while Alpine is just painfully stuck in midfield purgatory for nearly a decade bringing zero value to a competitive grid. Give Andretti their spot already cause they sure can’t be more dysfunctional than whatever Renault/Alpine have been doing this past decade.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
13th December 2023, 20:19
From the comments here, it’s pretty clear what most think of Enstone / Renault and their ambitions. I’ve no doubt that everyone there wants to win, but it makes a mockery of the idea ‘Andretti could devalue F1’.
For all the flaws in the other teams, at least they have an idea of who they are and what they want. I can’t see anyone going to Alpine for any reason other than it was the only offer left. Them building their own engines has weirdly become a burden.
The way Otmar left, Cyril, it just seems they bounce from one indecision to the next. No next young driver would choose their academy above anyone else’s, which without incredible scouting makes it somewhat redundant.
The share sales and the sackings seem to be a revolving door.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
14th December 2023, 14:21
Here’s the performance of Renault over the years in the WCC:
2016 9th
2017 6th
2018 4th
2019 5th
2020 5th
2021 5th
2022 4th
2023 6th
So their average position has been 5th overall in the WCC (5.5 if we include 2016) with the occasional jump to 4th.
They are following the front 3 but not able to join them. In 2014, 4 teams ran Renault engines. They are down to a single team now.