{"id":141062,"date":"2025-05-29T09:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T09:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/141062\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T09:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T09:39:10","slug":"briatore-targeting-alpine-f1-wins-in-2026-and-a-title-challenge-from-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/141062\/","title":{"rendered":"Briatore targeting Alpine F1 wins in 2026 and a title challenge from 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flavio Briatore\u2019s presence in the Formula 1 paddock may split opinion \u2013 but the Italian knows how to win and now he insists Alpine<\/a> has \u201cno excuses\u201d to not target victories in 2026 and titles following season.<\/p>\n

The controversial 75-year-old is an executive advisor to Alpine, but has taken on more responsibilities since Oliver Oakes left his role as team principal<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

It has been a tough start to 2025 for Alpine, which has scored just seven points so far and took the decision to drop Jack Doohan<\/a> in favour of Franco Colapinto<\/a> after the Miami Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Now though, Briatore wants to see Alpine challenging at the front of the field when 2026 and its sweeping rule changes arrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2026, we can win races, I guarantee it, and in 2027, we want to be title contenders,\u201d he told Le Monde.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2026, there will be no excuses: we must be competitive. We owe it to Renault [parent company], to Alpine\u2026we\u2019re in this sport to win, and with the new regulations coming in 2026, the teams that interpret them best will have the edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pierre <\/p>\n

Pierre Gasly, Alpine<\/p>\n

Photo by: Toshifumi Kitamura – AFP – Getty Images<\/p>\n

Briatore is pinning a large part of his hopes on Alpine\u2019s switch to Mercedes<\/a> power next year, after Renault announced it will leave F1 at the end of 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe easiest way to win is to sign Max Verstappen<\/a>, but we can\u2019t. So we have to work with what we\u2019ve got,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cChoosing to switch to Mercedes power was a very difficult decision, but in this sport, to win, you need to have the same tools as the others. For a million reasons rooted in the past, we were at a disadvantage in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having previously worked for the Enstone-based squad, Briatore guided the team to three constructors’ titles working with the likes of Michael Schumacher<\/a> and Fernando Alonso<\/a> – but he was then banned from F1 for life in the wake of the 2009 \u2018Crashgate\u2019 scandal.<\/p>\n

That decision was overturned in the French courts and, while his title remains the same, he has now all-but replaced Oakes – even if he currently cannot be appointed as team boss.<\/p>\n

\u201cOli was handling all operational matters, but he\u2019s no longer with us. I\u2019m now 100% committed and surrounded by a very strong team across all departments \u2014 technical, commercial, and management,\u201d Briatore explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more work, sure, but that\u2019s not a problem. I\u2019ve got plenty of time. As for the team principal licence, it\u2019s a detail \u2014 I could get it tomorrow if I wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone thought there was a rift between Oli and me. But when I have an issue with someone, everyone knows \u2014 I speak up and act immediately. If I say there\u2019s no problem, it\u2019s because there isn\u2019t one.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this article<\/p>\n

Fabien Gaillard\n<\/p>\n

Formula 1\n<\/p>\n

Alpine\n<\/p>\n

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics<\/p>\n

Subscribe to news alerts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flavio Briatore\u2019s presence in the Formula 1 paddock may split opinion \u2013 but the Italian knows how to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4289,4199,707,4200,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-141062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-alpine","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114590460338629696","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}