General
Renault CEO about Alonso: "He is already a brand in his own right".
- GPblog.com
The Renault F1 Team will disappear after this season. At least it will exchange name and the yellow colour for the blue of Alpine. A historic brand that Renault now wants to take out of oblivion. Partly for this reason they have attracted a big star for 2021.
"Renault's situation is not great now," said CEO Luca de Meo to AS.com. "One of the units will be Alpine, and Formula 1 and motorsport will be the focus there. In big companies there are ups and downs and there are people who are not passionate about racing, unlike myself, and sometimes see it as a cost."
De Meo and Alonso both return
The Meo sees Formula 1 above all as an opportunity to promote a brand to as wide an audience as possible. Alpine, which was out of the picture for a long time, will thus generate a lot of brand awareness in a short period of time. That is partly why De Meo chose Fernando Alonso as its driver.
"I am very much aware of his appeal in Spain, but also in many other countries, in South America. He is already a brand and a strong driver. He is very motivated to return [to Renault]. A bit the same as myself, I also started at Renault and returned after 25 years."