Flavio Briatore has developed a reputation for being one of the shrewdest negotiators in the Formula 1 paddock.
After spells in charge at Benetton and Renault where he saw Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso become world champions, Flavio Briatore returned to the paddock last year as a special advisor to Alpine.
The Italian has been at the centre of plenty of controversies during his time in F1.
Briatore was initially banned from Formula 1 for his part in the Crashgate incident at the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008.
It helped Alonso win the race, but ultimately cost Felipe Massa enough points that he lost the championship to Lewis Hamilton.
Experts have explained how likely Hamilton is to lose the 2008 title but Briatore is very much concentrating on Alpine’s future.
Alpine knew going into the 2025 F1 season that they needed to refresh their driver line-up.
Esteban Ocon announced he was joining Haas days after crashing into teammate Pierre Gasly at the Monaco Grand Prix.
There was one obvious candidate for the position in the paddock and that was Carlos Sainz.
Sainz discovered he had lost his race seat at Ferrari to Hamilton before last season started and suddenly he was being courted by nearly every midfield team on the grid.
During the latest season of Drive to Survive, Briatore explained his position on signing Sainz and the Netflix documentary shared his reaction when he discovered that the Spaniard had chosen to move to Williams instead.
Drive to Survive reveals Flavio Briatore’s efforts to sign Carlos Sainz for Alpine
By the time Briatore was back involved with Alpine, Sainz had been linked with Williams – and Sauber – for several months.
Briatore made a big effort to sign Sainz and even used the promise of having Mercedes engines – something that wasn’t agreed at this point – as a way to lure him to the Anglo-French team.
However, the move never materialised but in episode four of season seven of Drive to Survive, Briatore explained that he once told Sainz’s father: “I need a driver in 2025. I need Carlos.
“I know him from when he was a child, and we have a very super relationship. Especially his father. I told the father, one day maybe we work together.”
READ MORE: Who is Alpine’s F1 executive adviser Flavio Briatore? Everything to know
Sainz’s manager and cousin Carlos Onoro Sainz later told Williams team principal James Vowles before he signed for the team: “Carlos has doubts. I think he’s evaluating or trying to evaluate joining every single team available.”
Once it was revealed that Sainz had chosen to sign for Williams, Briatore explained: “Carlos believes Alpine was not good enough for him and Williams was much better. Simple as that. Everybody makes mistakes.”
Carlos Sainz goes fastest in pre-season testing for Williams but Alpine also impress
Sainz won’t know whether he’s made the right choice between Wiliams, Alpine or Sauber in the immediate future.
Sauber looked way off the pace in pre-season testing but the hope within the team is that Audi’s imminent takeover will make them more competitive.
However, Williams and Alpine were two of the surprise packages of testing in Bahrain.
READ MORE: Williams driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height
Sainz set the fastest time across all three days, although it’s likely that the Spaniard was running much closer to the car’s full potential than the likes of McLaren and Ferrari.
However, Gasly also looked very quick during his runs and with the introduction of the Mercedes power units on the horizon for the Anglo-French team, Briatore may end up being proved right that Sainz made a mistake not joining his team in the winter.
