FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Austrian Grand Prix - Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria - June 29, 2024 Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore arrives ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix REUTERS/Florion Goga/File Photo
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (Reuters) - Alpine have been mismanaged and will take years to become podium regulars again but the Renault-owned Formula One team will not be sold, executive advisor and former boss Flavio Briatore said on Saturday.
The Italian, in a joint appearance at the Dutch Grand Prix with new principal Oliver Oakes, told reporters the team -- champions as Benetton in the 1990s and Renault in the 2000s -- could hope to be competitive by 2027.
Alpine are currently eighth overall and have scored only 11 points in 14 races.
Briatore said a decision on which engines to use from 2026, with Renault contemplating buying in from Mercedes and ending production at Viry-Chatillon near Paris, was for the French carmaker to take.
He said Alpine, based near the Oxfordshire village of Enstone, needed fewer people, although appeared to suggest that would be achieved through departures rather than job cuts.
"It's not for sale," Briatore said when asked if he was preparing for the team to be sold. "Something is very clear, (Renault chief executive) Luca de Meo never wants to sell the team. Question finito."
Oakes was appointed at the end of July as Alpine's fifth principal in four years and Zandvoort, the start of the second half of the season, is the 36-year-old Briton's first race in charge.
Like Red Bull's Christian Horner, who arrived in Formula One in 2005 at a similarly young age, the Hitech boss brings a strong pedigree from running teams in junior series.
"Enstone has something which money can't buy, it has a racing spirit, it has a history," he said. "You can't help but go round and find that something that just gives massive passion to making the place where it should be.
"In terms of what it's missing, I dare say it's been mismanaged for quite a few years... we have some amazing people there. It's not the fault of the people, it's the fault of the leadership before."
Briatore, who was in charge when all the previous titles were won, referred to Enstone as a 'big monster' that was difficult to manage.
"To turn around this team you need young people, you need people with a lot of passion for the job," he said. "At one point a few wrong managers were chosen. I think the list of the wrong ones was quite long."
Oakes spoke of a 'Flavio Tornado' with the 74-year-old Italian's return to the factory and said the system needed energising.
"If we all do a good job, we're going to move forwards," he said. "It drives me a bit crazy today in F1. Everyone does long speeches, talking about X number of races. It gets a bit painful to keep reading that at the end of the day.
"We just have to build a good car and a good team. And I think at the end of that, the results will speak for themselves."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon)
