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F1 Midweek: Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s Latest Team Principal, With No Principles

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Tuesday (May 6th) brought the sudden and shocking news that Alpine Formula 1 team principal Oliver Oakes was resigning, effective immediately. Alpine executive adviser and walking Ponzi schemer Flavio Briatore will assume the position vacated by Oakes.

If you’ve heard the words “Flavio Briatore” and “hands behind your back” used in connection before, then you’re aware that Briatore has a longstanding relationship with law enforcement. But somehow, some way, Briatore has always found a way to worm his way out of prison, convictions, and/or punishment. And now, he’s found a way to worm his way into the team principal position at Alpine. 

This is pure speculation, but Oakes’ resignation reeks of a protest of Briatore’s growing influence within the Alpine organization. I would guess that on the spectrum that measures integrity, Oakes and Briatore might be on opposite ends if Briatore’s integrity exists.

On the heels of Oakes’ resignation, on Wednesday (May 7th), the team also announced that Alpine rookie driver Jack Doohan will be replaced by reserve driver Franco Colapinto for five races, starting at Imola’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on May 18th. This move is one that Briatore strongly hinted at early in the season amid Doohan’s struggles (Doohan’s best result is a 13th in China, and that would have been a 16th if not for the disqualifications of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Pierre Gasly).

And this potential driver swap may have been what ultimately led to Oakes’ departure. On Friday (May 2nd), Oakes said he expected Doohan to still be in an Alpine at Imola, meaning there were two vastly different opinions about Doohan’s future within Alpine.   

It seems odd that Alpine hired Doohan in the first place. His seat seemed tenuous before the season even started, almost as if he was a malleable pawn put in place by Briatore, so the scandal magnet could prove to others within the organization that he could wield his power.

Yes, Doohan has struggled in his six races with Alpine, but so has teammate Gasly, who has only two points-paying finishes, with his best a seventh at Bahrain. And Gasly is in his eighth year in F1, and third with Alpine. So, even an F1 veteran is struggling with the car’s lack of performance. Even though Doohan was given a chance at Alpine, he really had no chance.   

The fact that Briatore even has influence in F1, and for that matter, is even allowed in any role in F1, is baffling. To say his reputation “precedes” him is an understatement; Briatore’s reputation announces itself like a carnival barker with a megaphone riding a battering ram. 

Briatore is most associated with some of the most scandalous controversies in F1 history, like 2007’s “Spygate” and 2008’s “Crashgate.” For the latter, Briatore was punished with a lifetime ban from F1, but a French court overturned the ban in 2010. Briatore lives a charmed life, as there always seems to be a “French court,” or some comparable body of judgment, to rescue him from facing any repercussions for his questionable actions. The only people with less scruples than Briatore must be his legal team. 

And for every scandal that has an identifiable nickname, there are others that don’t have a nickname, and probably still others that escaped scrutiny or even discovery. In short, Briatore is a cheater, and everyone knows it, yet no one tries, or even wants to do anything about it. The FIA must feel that their hands are tied, because they couldn’t even make a lifetime ban stick, even though Briatore’s role in “Crashgate” was evident.  

To be fair, Briatore, as team principal, led Benetton to two world drivers championships (in 1994 and 1995), and guided Renault F1 to two drivers championships in 2005 and 2006. Also, to be fair, those drivers were Michael Schumacher at Benetton and Fernando Alonso at Renault. It makes one wonder if Briatore’s contributions to those championship-winning seasons were all legal and above board. One would think those titles would be what has defined Briatore’s F1 career. But it’s not even close.

Now Colapinto finds himself in a similar situation to that of Doohan: five or so races to prove your talent is enough to overcome the limitations of your car. Granted, Colapinto is in a better position to do so. He was fairly impressive in the final nine races of the 2024 season with Williams, also in a car that required a talented driver to squeeze every bit of potential from a car that was better than only the Saubers, which isn’t saying much.

And maybe Briatore sees the kind of potential in Colapinto that he noticed in Schumacher and Alonso. Briatore lured Schumacher to Benetton from Jordan in 1994, and is credited with discovering a raw yet extremely talented Alonso before signing him to Renault in 2002. Briatore obviously saw something in Schumacher and Alonso that he saw in himself, and that was a desire to win at all costs, the bounds of legality be damned. 

There is also the rumor that Briatore wanted a paying driver. For his 9-race stint with Williams, Colapinto was said to have paid $5 million (€ 4.5 million). For Alpine, and Briatore, the added bonus coming from Colapinto’s Argentinian backers means a windfall, with the potential to exploit the Argentinian market should Colapinto hold the seat.

I don’t think anyone is predicting world championships in Colapinto’s future, but maybe Briatore’s goal is to guide Alpine to the top of the middle tier in F1. Can he do it? It’s doubtful. How will he try to do it? In the most typical Flavio Briatore way possible—through any means necessary. It’s a tall order, and nothing will stop him from at least trying, certainly not the rule book, or any sort of ethical code, or any sense of honesty, or a desire to be associated with the word “decency.”

It seems that Alpine can go in only one direction, and that direction is closer towards a tarnished legacy.