MPH: Alonso and Alpine: the challenge facing Davide Brivio

Suzuki MotoGP boss Davide Brivio has been confirmed as Racing Director of the Alpine F1 team following Cyril Abiteboul’s departure.

Brivio comes with ringing endorsements from those who witnessed or were part of his work in MotoGP. He is supremely good at getting people to work well together, they say, at getting everyone aligned in the same direction. That’s a valuable skill and a very relevant one for Alpine and the Enstone team.

Relevant, because the departing Daniel Ricciardo did so much to gel everyone together, as recounted a few weeks ago by Abiteboul. “The team has evolved and it’s very much a credit to Daniel who’s been clearly leading the charge of the team and behind him a group of people and a group of mechanics and engineers who are doing a remarkable job on track.” The effect of Ricciardo’s sunny but hugely ambitious presence, the way he’s always pushing for more but in a way that gets everyone around him infected by his push.

“His influence went beyond just driving the car,” said Abiteboul last week. “[He] has been admirable in pushing on and his professionalism has been nothing short of exceptional, also after the announcement of his departure for next season. In this new phase as we transition from Renault to Alpine, the legacy left by Daniel will remain an integral part of our foundation…. Talking about very important stuff with Daniel isn’t that easy because he’s actually quite shy, he’s not going to be very direct about things that don’t work. It took me some time to decode and understand what’s really behind that smile.”

In Fernando Alonso, Ricciardo has been replaced by a driver of similar towering ability but a very different presence. “He is probably a bit more aggressive and pushy,” said Abiteboul in an interview with F1. “Fernando is a completely different animal. He will be blunt on the engine, the car, the strategy, the organisation. We know that. Both of them are commanding us to do our absolute best, one by telling you the way it is, the other one through his expectations and the standard of driver he is.”

Alonso has in the past been criticised for being a disruptive and divisive presence. That was certainly the case in his first stint at McLaren, though not his second – not according to those who were working with him there. During that time, his outspoken radio comments about its engine lost him his relationship with Honda, but his day-to-day interaction with the McLaren personnel was never anything other than harmonious.