Briatore is sure: 'In '26 Alpine wins races, in '27 for the title'
F1 News
In relative silence, Flavio Briatore is building Alpine with team boss Oliver Oakes. According to the Italian, successful in the past with Alpine's predecessors Benetton and Renault, it is a matter of time before the French marque are back to the absolute top of Formula 1.
For Briatore, 2025 is all about working towards 2026, the year when Formula 1's regulations will undergo a major overhaul. The Italian told Motorsport.com: "This season is important because we need [to be] preparing ourselves for 2026 when we need to start winning races."
That sounds rather ambitious for a team that currently competes at the top of the mid-field. However, Briatore argues that there are important changes coming that are going to make Alpine actually compete for the top prizes. "In ’26 we have the Mercedes engine and, in the meantime, we need to fit in more people with experience in our team," he added.
"It is the same as at Benetton, people said it was a joke because we were a t-shirt maker but after we started winning some races, everybody wanted to come to the team, people started paying attention. In the same way as Renault."
Briatore believes in world title with Alpine
So Briatore ventures a prediction: "If everybody is working together, I believe in 2026 it is possible to be winning races and in 2027 fighting for the championship."
Who will Alpine have driving for them then, Briatore is not giving anything away. Overall, he argues it's all about performance. Including the three reserve drivers, Alpine has five drivers under contract, and the best two will ultimately be the team's official drivers.
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen.
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