Ahead of Alpine’s switch from a works team to a customer outfit, Flavio Briatore insists there is no reason why the Enstone team can’t win with Mercedes power in F1 2026.

Returning to Enstone last year as Alpine’s non-executive director, fingers were pointed at Briatore when the call was made to shut down Renault’s F1 engine programme.

‘They didn’t care if it was fast or slow. It was a job’

The Italian, though, revealed it was in the pipeline before he even returned to the team.

“The problem is the evidence,” he said of Renault’s F1 programme. “Regarding the engine, it was decided already from the management, and for me it is fine. Whatever our chairman decides, fine. his was decided already, soon before I arrived in the team.”

He added: “I am not the bad guy all the time… everything else you [can] blame me. Not this one.”

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However, what he did influence was the decision to go with Mercedes as their engine and gearbox supplier ‘from 2026 until at least 2030’.

The gearbox arrangement means Alpine will also use Mercedes’ rear suspension as well, although it is understood that Alpine will explore producing their own gearbox and rear suspension from 2027.

Briatore believes he made the right call for a team wanting to get back onto the top step of the podium, citing his good relationship with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff as one of the reasons he leaned towards Mercedes.

“Why shouldn’t we be able to win races in 2026?” he insisted to Marca. “The car will be new for everyone. I want to win again, that’s why I came back to F1 and to do that you need everything to be competitive… and our engine is not.

“Then we chose Mercedes because I have a very good relationship with Toto.”

Briatore was at the helm of the Renault F1 team when Michael Schumacher won titles in 1993 and 1994 before leaving for a brief period and then returning with his next tenure resulting in titles for Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006.

He, however, left the team again in 2009 as the Crashgate scandal came to light.

Back at the team for the past seven months, Briatore says he’s already noticed huge changes in the attitude of the Alpine staff as when he first arrived the team at Enstone were just going through the motions.

“When I arrived at Enstone, my first impression was that it was a group of people producing a car,” he revealed. “And they didn’t care if it was fast or slow. It was a job.

“Now, you see the difference, there is passion. Last night I was in the factory until 11:30 at night and there were 80 or 90 people there. It’s back to being a racing team.”

He’s also very impressed with Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes, who also joined the team in 2024.

“Oliver is young, ambitious and knows the racing business because he was a [world karting champion] driver,” said Briatore. “He lives next to the factory: he gets up and he’s already there. That’s the kind of spirit that is now at Alpine.”

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