Italian outlet Corriere della Serra and French newspaper L’Equipe say that Renault’s CEO Luca De Meo wants Flavio Briatore, who is 74 years old, to be a special advisor. His job would be to help Renault’s racing team improve. They want to strengthen their headquarters in Enstone and their engine plant at Viry-Chatillon.
Alpine, the racing team, didn’t confirm or deny Briatore’s role. They said, “We talk to many experts to make our team better. Sometimes we ask for advice from experienced people. We can’t say anything about specific cases.”
If Briatore joins, it might make some people uncomfortable. He used to run Benetton and Renault’s racing teams. He was in charge when Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso won championships. But he also got in trouble for cheating in 2008.
Alpine has had a tough time lately. The boss Laurent Rossi left, and so did team principal Otmar Szafnauer and director Alan Permane. Then they made mistakes with their car design for this year. This put them far behind at the start of the season, even though they did well last year.
Some key people left the team in March, too. But they brought in new people to help. They’re getting better slowly, and they scored some points in the Monaco race.
But rumors say De Meo is still unhappy. He might sell the team to a Chinese company, but Alpine says that’s not true. They insist the team is not for sale.
