F1 ‘bandit’ RETURN could bring success to struggling team

Cars scramble into the first corner at the United States Grand prix — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 ‘bandit’ RETURN could bring success to struggling team

Flavio Briatore has returned with Alpine

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 4 July 2024 15:57 Updated: 21:39

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Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has revealed his role in helping an F1 legend to return to the sport, a man that he calls a 'bandit'.

Ecclestone was the CEO of F1 from the late 1970s all the way up till 2017, when Liberty Media bought the rights to the sport.

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Now 93 years old, Ecclestone still holds friendships with many key figures in the sport, including former Renault boss Flavio Briatore.

Briatore has recently taken up a new role in F1 with Alpine, working as the Enstone-based outfit's executive advisor as they look to boost themselves up the grid after a poor start to 2024.

Bernie Ecclestone is the former chief executive of the Formula 1 group

Briatore's F1 return

Alpine's struggles saw the team as one of the slowest outfits on the grid at the beginning of 2024, despite taking on a plethora of superstar investors.

Although the Enstone outfit have since recovered to score a few points, their driver lineup is far from settled for 2025, with Esteban Ocon already announcing his departure from the team.

Flavio Briatore was part of the crashgate scandal in 2008

Briatore, who was previously involved in the 'crashgate' scandal back in 2008 when leading the Renault team, brings with him a huge amount of experience, experience that Ecclestone reiterated himself to the current Renault CEO.

“I spoke to Renault boss Luca de Meo on the phone for a long time,” Ecclestone told Blick. “He was desperate.

“Then the word Briatore came up. We quickly agreed that in such a confusing situation only a doer, a bandit among angels, could help. And there are enough saints in the grand prix circus.

"Flavio's great strength has always been: 'Keep the discussions short, do and think big!’ You don't need friends in Formula 1, you just need success.”