When speaking about his decision to return full-time to F1, the 74-year-old made the unprompted admission about the Spaniard’s contract offer from Grove, almost as if a throwaway comment.<\/p>\n
He also detailed what drew him back to the team, having left in disgrace in the wake of the Crashgate<\/i>\u00a0saga, a dark episode for F1 that saw him receive a now-overturned ban from the championship.<\/p>\n
“And as Fernando Alonso’s manager, I was always in contact with the scene.<\/p>\n
“Formula 1 never really lets you go. I admit, I missed it. And then I had a conversation with Luca de Meo [Renault CEO]. I’ve known him for ages. I told him that it was sad to see a former world champion team in this state.”<\/p>\n
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Alonso wanted to stay at Alpine<\/h2>\n
When describing how the opportunity at Alpine came to pass, Briatore touched upon the ineptitude within the team at the time Alonso was most recently there, something that led to it losing two drivers in short succession –\u00a0and in now infamous circumstances.<\/p>\n
The Italian explained that initially Alonso had wanted to remain put, but former Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi went off the radar, opening the door to other opportunities, including Williams.<\/p>\n
“In the beginning, the idea was to help [at Alpine] a little,” he shared. “I wasn’t sure because so much has changed in Formula 1. We talked about the last few years of Alpine in a very non-committal way.<\/p>\n
“It takes a lot of inability to lose two drivers like Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri in one summer. Fernando wanted to stay because the season before wasn’t that bad. We wanted to sign the contract in Canada.<\/p>\n
“Then Laurent Rossi suddenly disappeared. We could no longer contact him. That was the moment when I started talking to Lawrence Stroll from Aston Martin,” he recalled.<\/p>\n
“We even had an offer from Williams. I said to them: get your shop in order first,” Briatore added. “In the end, we signed with Aston Martin because we couldn’t get on with Alpine’s management.”<\/p>\n
He concluded by tying the two events together, stating: “The faults lay with the management. I said to Luca: If I get full responsibility, I’ll do it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Briatore](\"https:\/\/cdn.racingnews365.com\/2024\/_1092x683_crop_center-center_85_none\/Briatore-Alonso.jpg?v=1734361945\")
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