After the crashgate scandal, Flavio Briatore was initially banished from Formula 1 for life, now as a team boss, he is supposed to return to Alpine.
From the excluded to the Big Boss: The scandal -littered string puller Flavio Briatore is back on the levers of power in Formula 1. The 75-year-old Italian is to tidy up with the ambitious and chronic unsuccessful alpine racing stable, according to which team boss Oliver Oakes on Tuesday evening, the previous chief advisor Briatoree has come to the top of the team-and replaced the disappointing rookie Jack Doohan with replacement driver Franco Colapinto on Wednesday morning.
Five races for Colapinto
“Since the driver field is so balanced this year and the team has a competitive car that has improved significantly in the past twelve months, we see the need to change our driver cast”explained Briatore. Colapinto is now allowed to show itself as a second pilot next to the experienced Pierre Gasly, then the racing team will make a “re -evaluation”.
The driver’s exchange is not a sensation, and since Colapinto’s obligation has been speculated violently, if not. The 21-year-old Argentinian already drove nine (partly convincing) races for Williams in the past season, and he brings sponsorship funds in the allegedly double-digit millions.
Briatore responsible for “crashgate”
Briator’s return to the top of a Formula 1 racing team is much more remarkable, as it was categorically excluded a few years ago. After all, Lebemann Briatore, who has a short relationship with Heidi Klum, is responsible for “crahgate”, the possibly the largest scandal of Formula 1.
At the Grand Prize of Singapore 2008, the then Renault team boss Briatore and chief technology chief Pat Symonds announced to her driver Nelson Piquet jr. the victory.
Nelson Piquet Junior Crasht at the Singapur 2008 Grand Prix with his racing car in the wall
Successful complaint against lifelong lock
After the finishing passage, the blush began: Alonso was just an outrageous luck? Or was the race manipulated in an unprecedented way? Piquet unpacked after being released in 2009 – after FIA investigations and court hearings, Symonds and Briatore were blocked, the Italians even for life.
But Briatore, who had put a crazy career from the occasional jobber to the night club owner and Michael Schumacher’s Benetton team boss at the World Cup triumph in 1994 and 1995, did not want to be driven out of his Formula 1. He complained before a court declared his exclusion indefinitely.
Flavio Briatore and the then world champion Michael Schumacher in 1995 in Monza
In 2024 Renault managing director Luca de Meo brought the persona non grata back to the Formula 1 circus. Possibly, that suggests Briatores from Tuesday, he remembered the words of the legendary team leader Frank Williams: “Flavio is not a racer, but he always makes the right decisions.”