Provost must use summer break to steer Alpine to success

The summer shutdown offers Formula 1 teams an opportunity to take their foot off the pedal, review season performance and recalibrate.

The 14-day break, which falls between the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of this month, is perhaps no more desperately needed than by Alpine.

The team's performance in the 2025 season has been lacklustre, to say the least: sitting 10th and last in the constructors' standing after 14 races, freshly-appointed Renault CEO Francois Provost has much to contemplate if Alpine's fortunes are to be reversed.

His arrival follows off-track turmoil, including the surprise departure of former CEO Luca de Meo and a string of key personnel that has fuelled speculation over Alpine's future in Formula 1.

Provost, a Renault veteran of more than two decades, has moved swiftly to dispel rumours by confirming that Alpine will remain in the sport beyond 2025.

He is not expected to overhaul the motorsport strategy immediately but has made it clear that "the only priority for a Formula 1 team is performance, and improving it", not only for what remains of the current season but in 2026.

The good news for Provost and Alpine is that the only way is up.

But what is less clear is how Provost gets Alpine back on track and guides the team from being a mere participant to a serious contender and a force to be reckoned with.

For the 2026 season, Renault will, for the first time, use a competitor's power unit when the Alpine team switch to Mercedes engines and gearboxes.

Whether the controversial move to end its engine programme, signed off under De Meo's tenure, will pay dividends beyond an estimated saving of 200m Euros, remains to be seen.

But it is hard to imagine that this change alone will deliver Alpine the success on the track that has proved thus far elusive.

Provost may, for example, need to weigh up Alpine's senior leadership and assess if the right balance has been struck.

Rumours have swirled that Flavio Briatore, the flamboyant Italian businessman and Alpine's team principal, could be in the crosshairs.

The 75-year-old was brought back into the fold in June 2024 as executive adviser to Renault's Formula One division after a 15 year absence from the sport when he was forced to resign from the team in the wake of the controversy over the fixing of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Briatore's return was sanctioned at Renault board level as a symbolic attempt to stabilise the team but critics claim it has had the opposite effect.

Following several departures of key personnel, including Team Principal Oliver Oakes, Alan Permane (Sporting Director), Pat Fry (Chief Technical Officer), Matt Harman (Technical Director), and most recently, Dirk de Beer (Head of Aerodynamics), there are concerns that Briatore presides over a team that appears increasingly unmoored - from performance metrics, modern governance, and the professional culture now expected of any F1 constructor.

For now, at least, Briatore appears to have Renault's full support, despite a questionable decision to elevate the Argentinian driver, Franco Colapinto, from reserve into the main team in May.

Colapinto has since struggled to deliver for Alpine and of the 20 drivers currently racing in Formula 1, he is the only one who has yet to score a point this season.

Therefore, it is also conceivable that Briatore, renowned for being decisive, fiercely results-driven and willing to correct course quickly if a decision fails to yield results, might consider a second chance for the Australian driver, 22-year-old Jack Doohan, who was replaced by Colapinto.

Performance comparisons suggest that Doohan outperformed Colapinto on like-for-like metrics, and under more difficult conditions at the start of the season.

Colapinto entered later, after Alpine had stabilised the car’s performance and systems. Doohan’s relative pace and adaptability remain superior.

More broadly, Doohan’s F2 and F3 record suggests he ranks at or near the top of the current rookie cohort in terms of technical feedback, qualifying pace, racecraft, and consistency.

As things stand, Briatore's decision to sideline Doohan does not appear to have paid the dividends he expected.

Alpine's investors, who include the Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, may harbour a similar sense of disappointment while hoping that Provost has both the vision and, if needed, the ruthlessness to turn things around.

The pause in the Formula 1 calendar offers time to reflect. Having done so, Provost may decide that if Alpine is serious about competing in 2026, it needs more than a new engine deal.

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