Takeover of alpine team
Sharp criticism of Briatore: “He is too old for that”
Updated on 08.05.2025 – 8:38 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Flavio Briatore takes over the management of the Alpine racing team at the age of 75. Not a good decision for Ralf Schumacher.
The former Formula 1 racing driver Ralf Schumacher skeptically sees the new job of Flavio Briatore as team boss of the Alpine racing team. The Italian, who won two World Cup titles with Michael Schumacher at Benetton and later hired Renault, had been a consultant of Alpine. Schumacher showed little enthusiasm at Sky, as the Austrian “Kronen Zeitung” reports. “In his function and with his experience, he did it great, but as a team boss to be active in the company every day, he is too old for that,” said Michael Schumacher. Briatore had had to undergo heart surgery last year.
The 75-year-old Briatore took over the team management of Oliver Oakes on Tuesday. Schumacher does not surprise that the entrepreneur is now involved in the Formula 1 business. “Flavio will always do his thing. That is also the reason why Oliver Oakes pulled the ripcord. Flavio also had no problem with Oakes,” he said.
Briatore had described himself as a “democratic dictator” and pointed out that he made the decisions. “As I heard it, Flavio does everything in personal union, but I don’t hope that,” said former Williams BMW pilot.
The Italian businessman had come to Formula 1 about his relationship with textile manufacturer Luciano Benetton. He made him head of his racing team in 1988, without Briatore working in the racing series beforehand. Briatore guided Michael Schumacher in his team in the early 1990s. In 1994 and 1995, the native of Kerpen in Benetton won the first two of his seven World Cup titles.
Because of his involvement in the scandal about a deliberate accident by Brazilian Nelson Piquet Junior in Singapore, the “Crashgate” affair, Briatore was initially closed to life by the FIA Motorsport Association. The lock was later lifted by a French dish.