According to speculation, the reduced Red Bull team boss Christian Horner could soon return to Formula 1-and together with Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, the crisising Alpine team.
This considers Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff to be an “exciting story” and says: “That would create a lot of attention for Formula 1. And I think we need that.”
The World Cup always “lived from the best racing,” emphasizes Wolff. However, “exciting drivers and big personalities” were also crucial for the development of Formula 1 towards World Scharption.
“If you look back on the great era of team owners and team bosses – Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Flavio, [Luca di] Montezemolo and some others -then you can see that we may have to work on it again, “says Wolff.” And if there is such a project, these three people together -reuniting the entire mafia -then would certainly give good conversation. “
How Briatore reacts to Wolff’s statements
Briators jokes and describes Horner, Ecclestone and himself as “the sharks” and as the “shark mafia”, which Wolff apparently looks like: he calls Briatore, Ecclestone and Horner simply “three sharks”.
In fact, Briatore, Ecclestone and Horner have a lot in common: In 2007, Briatore and Ecclestone bought the English football club Queens Park Rangers and Briatore as President of the association for a while. In 2012 Horner was the best man for Ecclestone, in 2015 it was Ecclestone’s best man for Horner.
But Briatore asserts: Horner is currently “not an issue” for alpine, not even as part of a three -person management structure. “At the moment I don’t think of anything like that,” says Briatore.
Alpine wants back to the podium in 2026
Especially since Alpine, as a subsidiary of Renault, has just received a new boss: Francois Provost recently succeeded Luca de Meo as CEO and wants to keep Alpine in Formula 1 for the long time.
Briatore says: “The new CEO is very enthusiastic about the Formula 1 program. And really, the program remains the same. But we need better results-that is what we have to achieve next year.”
“Better” explicitly understands several podium places, as he explains on request – and thus sets himself an ultimatum: “Otherwise I have to change jobs!”
Hopes rest on 2026
However, he assumes that the alpine strategy will pay off to 2026 in the coming year with a full focus. At the moment, however, the team has to live with the side effects of this procedure: with the fact that Franco Colapinto and Pierre Most of all drive after.
Or as Briatore puts it himself: “2025 is very complicated for us. But we hope that we will be happy in 2026. At least we hope that.”