I appear to be the only person in the world who likes the new Alpine livery. In my opinion, it’s an improvement on the previous design, as I thought that the pink and blue clashed too much. By minimizing those colours and making black the dominant colour on the livery, it feels sleeker to me. Yet most fans were disappointed with the livery. The primary reason is that carbon fiber is being overused to save weight on current F1 cars. Removing colour from a livery when every other team is also doing that frustrates people, leading to calls for rules to be introduced to prevent the practice.[1]
Yet, I suspect a second factor helps explain why the reaction to Alpine’s livery seemed the most negative. Since buying Lotus in 2015, Renault have failed to meet the targets that they set, been involved in unnecessary drama and are unable to maintain consistency between seasons. Assessing Renault’s performances and dramas over years shows a team seemingly in constant disarray.
2016:
Renault reentered F1 in 2016 with ambition. Taking over the Lotus team that they had previously sold, the team announced that they were embarking upon a ‘five-year plan’, with senior officials expressing that they would expand their operations to challenge for podiums by 2018 and the title by 2020.[2] However, by inheriting a team that needed to be rebuilt, 2016 was always going to be a difficult year for Renault. Both drivers never qualified in the top ten and the team finished 9th, only ahead of Sauber and Manor. The only particular highlight of the year was Kevin Magnussen’s impressive drive from 17th to 7th at the Russian Grand Prix, defending from a train of faster cars in the process.[3] Whilst Renault developed the car somewhat at the start of the season, by the middle of the year they had shifted their focus to the 2017 aero rules, Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul remaining hopeful that with an improved aero department, their five year plan was still on track to achieve success.[4]
2017:
2017 was a much more positive year for Renault. New driver Nico Hulkenberg regularly qualified in the top ten and finished the British, Belgian and Abu Dhabi grand prix as best of the rest.[5] The team were making progress, jumping from 9th to 6th in the championship. Yet, Hulkenberg’s teammate, Jolyon Palmer, had a horrific year, only finishing in the points once. This led to Palmer being dropped before the season finished, to be replaced by Carlos Sainz, who had already been signed for 2018.[6] Whilst this may have seemed a smart move to secure 6th in the championship, it is also an early hint of a problem that would haunt Renault in later years, their ability to mismanage and disrespect their drivers.
Regardless, at the time, it appeared that the five-year plan was on track. 2018 could prove an important year for the team, as it would test their ability to make good on their promises, challenge for podiums and reach the top of the midfield.
2018:
2018 was a year of mixed fortunes for Renault. They achieved their ambition of being top of the midfield and attracted Daniel Ricciardo, then considered one of the best drivers in F1, to drive for them in 2019.[7] Both drivers regularly finished in the points, with Hulkenberg finishing best of the rest in six races, with Sainz also doing so at the season finale at Abu Dhabi. Yet, whilst representing steady progress, the team did not get anywhere close to their stated ambition of podiums in 2018, in fact only finishing in the top five twice.[8] Thus, whilst in his article for The Race Edd Straw argues that the plan appeared to be on course, evidence he provides contradicts this, with former chief technical officer Bob Bell sounding the alarm that five years was the minimum and that it may take longer for Renault to challenge.[9]
The plan had been somewhat disrupted. Yet, with a top driver joining the team, hopes were high that progress could be made. The worst thing Renault could do at this point would be to move backwards.
2019:
In 2019, Renault moved backwards, from 4th to 5th in the championship. Whilst they received 122 points in the previous year, in 2019 they fell to 91. Whilst the team placed their hope in a series of upgrades introduced at the French GP, these failed to make a notable improvement in performance. Once this had happened, it was recognized that the plan was not on track, leading to a reshuffle, wherein Dirk de Beer was hired as head of aerodynamics and Pat Fry was hired for his engineering expertise.[10] No podiums were achieved in the year and points finishes proved irregular. However, the team did have a day-of-days at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix. The team finished 4th and 5th that day, beating the Red Bulls on pace and Ricciardo only finished ten seconds behind Lewis Hamilton in 3rd. This was Renault’s best performance since reentering F1 in 2016. This at least was a sign that Renault were improving, holding out hope that they may start to challenge for podiums soon.
2020:
By 2020, few held hope that Renault could challenge for the title. The Formula One website ranked Renault only 5th in their pre-season rankings after testing.[11] And between testing and the season opener, Daniel Ricciardo decided to sign with McLaren for 2021. This gravely upset the higher ups at Renault, with team boss Cyril Abiteboul consistently stating that Ricciardo owed the team his loyalty.[12] Abiteboul even dramatized this saga, appearing on Drive to Survive painting Ricciardo as the villain, who had a commitment to stay with Renault and had broken that commitment. This is despite the fact that Ricciardo only signed with Renault for two years. So contractually, he owed Renault nothing. Cyril came across like a desperate boyfriend who could not accept that he was being broken up with. Furthermore, this attitude towards their drivers did not only affect Cyril, as would become apparent in 2022.
All the drama distracts from the fact that Renault had a comparatively fantastic 2020. Whilst still finishing 5th, they were far more competitive than the previous year, challenging for 3rd in the championship to season’s end. The team finished in the top five nine times and finally achieved podiums, two years behind schedule. Two 3rd places for Ricciardo and a career-best 2nd place in the penultimate race for Esteban Ocon provided hope that the team would continue to improve. With two-time world champion Fernando Alonso coming on board, Renault had signed one of the strongest drivers in F1. With a rebrand to becoming the Alpine F1 team, the absolute worst thing the team could do would be to make another unrealistic plan.
2021:
Alpine’s 2021 began with the announcement that long-term team boss Cyril Abiteboul had departed the team. Along with this announcement came the appointment of Laurent Rossi as Alpine’s new CEO.[13] Unfortunately, Rossi had not learned from mistakes made under the previous regime. He decided to announce that Alpine had a 100-race plan ‘that places us on the podium as many times as possible in 2024. From today in fifth, you can easily find a roadmap.’[14] Rossi set a target of season-by-season improvement, which would later come to be his undoing when this target did not materialize.[15]
2021 itself was a year of mixed fortunes for Alpine. They were not as competitive as they had been in the previous season, with Ferrari and McLaren delivering faster cars that allowed them, not Alpine, to fight for 3rd. However, the team delivered upon a shock win at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, their finest moment since reentering F1. After lining up in eighth, a series of unfortunate collisions and a strategy error from Mercedes left Esteban Ocon in the lead. Under pressure from Sebastian Vettel all race, Ocon controlled the race at the front and made no costly errors. Yet, throughout the race, Lewis Hamilton had been charging from the back of the field and a win still looked possible. Unfortunately for him, Alpine had Fernando Alonso in between Hamilton and the race lead. Alonso, utilizing all his talent, made his car as wide as possible and defended on the edge, holding Hamilton up for nine laps. This solidified the race win for Ocon, proved Alpine had made an inspired choice when they signed Alonso and seemed to signal a brighter future for the team.
2022:
2022 appeared to be an hopeful year for Alpine in the first half. They came into the new regulations with a quick car, which Alonso used to contend for pole in Australia and Canada. Whilst not quite a top team, this appeared to many, for example Finley Crebolder of Planet F1, like Alpine’s 100-race plan was working.[16] Yet, performance is only one measure of running a successful F1 team and the events of the summer showed that Alpine lacked the managerial skills needed.
Fernando Alonso is one of the greatest drivers in the history of F1. Even in his 40s, he is still delivering at a sublime level. Any team that has Fernando as a driver should do their upmost to keep him happy. Unfortunately, Alpine learnt what happens when you don’t. Alonso had frequently expressed his desire to race for many more years in F1, yet Alpine were only willing to sign a 1+1-year deal with Alonso, with a view to transferring him to their sportscar programme.[17] This was because they saw their rookie driver, Oscar Piastri, as the team’s long-term future. Alonso, in response to what he saw as disrespect, signed for Aston Martin as soon as a seat became available. Yet, as the team had been certain that they would sign with Alonso for 2023, they were obliged to find Piastri an F1 seat earlier in the year. The only seat they were willing to loan him to was Williams, which Piastri found an unattractive prospect.[18] Therefore, when he became a free agent, Piastri signed with Alpine’s rival, McLaren. When Alonso then left the team, Alpine were left with no available driver. They then decided to announce that Piastri was driving for them without his permission, in what appeared to be an attempt to pressure Piastri into taking the seat.[19] This included the team boss, Otmar Szafnauer, walking in on Piastri in the simulator and announcing that he was driving for the team, in front of people who did not know Piastri’s contractual situation.[20] This led to Piastri having to publicly tweet that he was not driving for the team, which caused an internet firestorm.[21] This controversy have been worth it, if Alpine had a legal case to sign Piastri, yet when the case went to the Contract Recognition Board, they ruled that Piastri’s only valid F1 contract was with McLaren.[22] After the fact, Otmar Szafnauer showed that Cyril’s reaction to Ricciardo leaving reflects a wider cultural problem in the team of disrespect for their employees. Otmar in many interviews painted Piastri as disloyal, selfish and ungrateful, implying that he would regret his decision.[23] This entire situation embarrassed Alpine, who successfully managed to alienate two star-quality drivers and were shown to lack the maturity to manage a top F1 team.
2023:
When launching their car in 2023, Alpine were still following the 100-race plan. Otmar expressed a desire to improve in the standings and ‘be closer to third than fifth… even if we stay fourth, we’ve got to make progress.’[24] However, Alpine would finish the season in sixth, being leapfrogged by Aston Martin and McLaren, who both managed to become regular podium contenders. Tensions escalated throughout the year, as CEO Laurent Rossi described his team’s performance as amateurish, which came across as highly demotivating and yet another sign of disrespect towards employees of the team.[25] And by the end of the year, everyone associated with the 100-race plan was out of the team, including Rossi and Szafnauer, effectively leaving the plan abandoned.[26] Whilst 2023 was not all bad, as the team achieved two podiums, setting unrealistic goals once again backfired in the team’s face and led to another reshuffle.
Thus, Alpine enters 2024 afresh, with new leadership in the form of Bruno Famin. The early signs are hopeful, as Famin was clear in a conversation with Lawrence Barretto that he did not want to set specific targets as ‘sometimes in F1 you go two steps forward and one step backwards.’[27] Obviously, the team still has ambitions to get to the front of F1, they are the Renault works team, with a heritage of success in the 90s and 2000s. Yet, this quote presents some hope that the team have learnt from past failings, that the era of unrealistic plans has come to an end.
[1] Should F1 introduce new livery rule over increasing issue?, Ewan Gale, RacingNews365 (7 February 2024) https://racingnews365.com/should-f1-introduce-new-livery-rule-over-increasing-issue
[2] Bob Bell: Renault’s rebuild means F1 title in five years is “not unrealistic”, Motorsport.com (23 August 2016) https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/bob-bell-renaults-rebuild-means-f1-title-in-five-years-is-not-unrealistic/3221283/; Renault halts 2016 F1 car development, Jonathan Noble, Motorsport.com (21 July 2016) https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/renault-halts-2016-f1-car-development-800573/800573/
[3] F1: Russian Grand Prix – as it happened, Tom Davies, The Guardian (1 May 2016) https://web.archive.org/web/20160504180816/http://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2016/may/01/f1-russian-grand-prix-live
[4] Renault halts 2016 F1 car development https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/renault-halts-2016-f1-car-development-800573/800573/
[5] In 2017/18/19, best of the rest refers to the highest finishing driver outside of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
[6] Jolyon Palmer out at Renault, Carlos Sainz in, after Japanese GP, Jonathan Green & James Galloway, Sky Sports F1 (8 October 2017) https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/11070504/jolyon-palmer-out-at-renault-carlos-sainz-in-after-japanese-gp
[7] Ricciardo to join Hulkenberg at Renault for 2019 (3 August 2018) https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2018/8/ricciardo-joins-hulkenberg-at-renault-in-2019.html
[8] Renault halts 2016 F1 car development https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/renault-halts-2016-f1-car-development-800573/800573/; Bob Bell: Renault’s rebuild means F1 title in five years is “not unrealistic” https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/bob-bell-renaults-rebuild-means-f1-title-in-five-years-is-not-unrealistic/3221283/
[9] Why Renault’s Five-Year F1 Plan Failed, Edd Straw, The Race (21 October 2020) https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-renaults-five-year-f1-plan-failed/
[10] Failed French Grand Prix upgrade triggered Renault F1 reshuffle, Jonathan Noble, Autosport (14 November 2019) https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/failed-french-grand-prix-upgrade-triggered-renault-f1-reshuffle-4985837/4985837/
[11] F1 POWER RANKINGS: From 10 to 1 – revisiting how we ranked the teams after winter testing (30 June 2020) https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.f1-power-rankings-from-10-to-1-revisiting-how-we-ranked-the-teams-after.3NhOSQN07l1E1b90evIyo5.html
[12] ‘Unity and commitment are critical’ say Renault as Ricciardo split announced (14 May 2020) https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.unity-and-commitment-are-critical-say-renault-as-ricciardo-split-announced.2Lcj1J7kTz0c85fGXG3KBC.html
[13] Cyril Abiteboul leaves Renault and will not lead Alpine F1 team, Matt Morlidge, Sky Sports F1 (12 January 2021) https://skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12185143/cyril-abiteboul-leaving-renault-and-will-not-lead-alpine-f1-team
[14] ‘It’s a 100-race project’ – CEO Laurent Rossi outlines Alpine’s roadmap to reach the summit of F1 (16 October 2021) https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.its-a-100-race-project-ceo-laurent-rossi-outlines-alpines-roadmap-to-reach.2TA0a4d491WWAjbuzsDTzw.html
[15] It’s a 100-race project’ – CEO Laurent Rossi outlines Alpine’s roadmap to reach the summit of F1 https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.its-a-100-race-project-ceo-laurent-rossi-outlines-alpines-roadmap-to-reach.2TA0a4d491WWAjbuzsDTzw.html
[16] With Alpine, Renault’s plans finally seem to be on track, Finley Crebolder, Planet F1 (14 July 2022) https://www.planetf1.com/features/alpine-renault-plans-finally-on-track
[17] ANALYSIS: Why Alonso accepted Aston Martin’s advances and signed a shock deal – and why it could be a perfect match, Lawrence Barretto (1 August 2022) https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.analysis-why-alonso-accepted-aston-martins-advances-and-signed-a-shock-deal.2hSAZ2QtgVtuEJa4chM7c4.html
[18] Piastri’s Not a Villain- Trust and Loyalty go Both Ways, Scott Mitchell-Malm, The Race (1 September 2022) https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/piastris-not-a-villain-trust-and-loyalty-go-both-ways/
[19] Piastri’s Not a Villain- Trust and Loyalty go Both Ways https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/piastris-not-a-villain-trust-and-loyalty-go-both-ways/
[20] Oscar Piastri: New McLaren signing opens up on ‘bizarre and upsetting’ Alpine F1 exit and team behaviour, Matt Morlidge, Sky Sports F1 (3 September 2022) https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12688414/oscar-piastri-new-mclaren-signing-opens-up-on-bizarre-and-upsetting-alpine-f1-exit-and-team-behaviour
[21] https://twitter.com/OscarPiastri/status/1554527452231262210?lang=en
[22] Piastri to race for McLaren in 2023 following CRB decision (2 September 2022) https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-piastri-to-race-for-mclaren-in-2023-following-crb-decision.6jDE57LmqHCyrd7yKx1BLZ.html
[23] Alpine boss Szafnauer responds to CRB ruling and Piastri’s ‘bizarre and upsetting’ comments (3 September 2022) https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.alpine-boss-szafnauer-responds-to-crb-ruling-and-piastris-bizarre-and.ZXLvO8h9mqbUwzwVdsU3H.html, Alpine reopen Piastri wound with new jab: “Eliminate the loopholes…”, James Dielhenn, Crash.net (3 February 2023) https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1019808/1/alpine-reopen-piastri-wound-new-jab-eliminate-loopholes, Alpine chief predicts Oscar Piastri’s F1 career will “perish” after defecting to McLaren, Daniel Moxon, Daily Mirror (22 December 2022) https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formula-1/oscar-piastri-mclaren-alpine-szafnauer-28798786
[24] Alpine unveils 2023 F1 challenger in London, Filip Cleeren, Autosport (16 February 2023) https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/alpine-unveils-2023-f1-challenger-in-london/10433120/#:~:text=Alpine’s%202023%20ambition%20is%20to,to%20third%20than%20to%20fifth%22.
[25] Alpine boss blasts F1 team’s performance as ‘amateurish’ at times, Jonathan Noble & Benjamin Vinel, Autosport (7 May 2023) https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/alpine-boss-blasts-f1-teams-performance-as-amateurish-at-times/10466340/
[26] Is Alpine’s 100-race F1 dream finally over? Brivio latest to leave Enstone, Cambridge Kisby, Motorsport Magazine (12 December 2023) https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/alpine-f1s-poisoned-chalice-szafnauer-latest-to-be-axed/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20Alpine%20CEO%20Laurent,title%2Dcontending%20outfit%20in%202024
[27] ANALYSIS: Alpine’s plan to avoid another lonely finish in the F1 constructors’ standings, Lawrence Barretto (8 February 2024) https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.analysis-alpines-plan-to-avoid-another-lonely-finish-in-the-f1-constructors.2WtNsRCq5rSNDnvFth6Tn1.html
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