Flavio Briatore insists that he is not involved in the decision-making over whether Renault will withdraw from F1 as a manufacturer.

With an official announcement due to be made at the end of next month, last week staff at the French manufacturer's Viry-Chatillon factory called for a rethink on its decision.

Appalled by reports of its withdrawal, the Social and Economic Council of employees at Viry-Chatillon accused Renault of seeking to pull out of F1 as part of a cost-cutting exercise, amidst claims that Alpine buying in engines from Mercedes would cost around $17m compared to the current cost to the French company of $120m.

Brought back on board in a bid to turn fortunes around, when rumours of Renault's withdrawal first arose, the finger of suspicion was immediately pointed at Flavio Briatore.

While Renault has struggled throughout the hybrid era, it was hoped that the 2026 rules overhaul might improve things, but the early talk coming out of France is that the French manufacturer is still floundering.

Asked why Renault cannot at least wait to see how things develop, Briatore said: "The problem is the evidence. Regarding the engine, it was decided already from the management, and for me it is fine.

"Whatever our chairman decides, fine," he added. "This was decided already, soon before I arrived in the team.

"I am not the bad guy all the time," he insisted, "everything else you can blame on me. Not this one."

Other than Viry, there is talk that Alpine is looking to reduce the size of its Enstone workforce.

"I don't know," said the Italian. "At Enstone I don't know if we have too many people or not. Let me check. We don't want to cut any jobs. We want to just have an efficiency. The people who want to stay with us, they are welcome to stay. But we need everybody in the same line. We want to have people with the experience, the people working together as an F1 team. After that, we don't want to fire anybody."

Looking at the team's demise, there is understandable speculation that Briatore - forever known as the sweater salesman from Benetton that ended up (successfully) running an F1 team - is actually working behind the scenes in a bid to make the operation more attractive to a potential buyer in an era when Zak Brown insists that teams are worth "north of a billion".

"No, there is nothing for sale," the Italian insists. "Everything, we buy. If we had the opportunity, we would buy another team and I put a managing director in.

"Something is very clear. Luca de Meo never wants to sell the team. Question finito!"

So there you have it, a 'for sale, nice price!' sign is about to appear at Enstone.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 30/08/2024 4:08

"@ Meatball...sorry to say but you most certainly polish a turd. Coprolites that have fossilized take a handy polish. "

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2. Posted by meatball, 29/08/2024 17:29

"hmm ok, so the Viry staff feel it's justified to spend nearly 10x as much per year to produce an inferior product? Do Better! Show some humility in the fact that you've been building boat anchors masquerading as F1 Engines since the Hybrids started turning laps. You can't polish a turd, it doesn't even matter if this was Flavio's decision."

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Briatore not involved in Renault decision

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