25/08/2024
NEWS STORY
As new team principal Oliver Oakes cites poor management for the team's recent failings, Flavio Briatore insists that Alpine is not for sale.
With Renault looking set to pull the plug on its engines, Alpine will most likely turn to Mercedes, and while this might shock the purists - and indeed employees at the French company's factory near Paris - it might help it become more competitive.
The Enstone-based outfit is but a shadow of its former self, the team which first entered the sport as Toleman then morphed into Benetton then Renault then all manner of other guises - even Lotus - and now sports the Alpine logo.
However, along with its various names its fortunes have also changed, and is now to be found battling at the lower end of the midfield, while the constant comings and goings of management dominates the headlines.
Despite the turmoil, Briatore has dismissed speculation that the team might be sold.
"It's not for sale!" he told reporters. "Something is very clear, Luca de Meo never wants to sell the team... question finito!"
"Enstone has something which money can't buy," added new team principal, Oliver Oakes, founder of Hitech, "it has a racing spirit, it has a history. You can't help but go round and find that something that just gives massive passion to making the place where it should be.
"In terms of what it's missing, I dare say it's been mismanaged for quite a few years," he admitted, "we have some amazing people there. It's not the fault of the people, it's the fault of the leadership before.
"To turn around this team you need young people, you need people with a lot of passion for the job," he continued. "At one point a few wrong managers were chosen. I think the list of the wrong ones was quite long.
"If we all do a good job, we're going to move forwards," he insisted. "It drives me a bit crazy today in F1. Everyone does long speeches, talking about X number of races. It gets a bit painful to keep reading that at the end of the day.
"We just have to build a good car and a good team. And I think at the end of that, the results will speak for themselves."
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