RENAULT CONFIRMS : ABITEBOUL TO HEAD UP ALPINE

Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul has been put in charge of the French manufacturer’s Alpine brand, in a move that looks set to trigger a renaming of its Formula 1 operation.

A statement said that Abiteboul, who helped guide Renault’s return to F1 as a works team, would be in charge of the ‘creation, organisation and implementation’ of the Alpine brand alongside his current role.

One of the outcomes of the move is likely to be a rebranding of the Renault F1 team, to either incorporate the Alpine brand in its name, potentially as Alpine Renault, or operate totally under the French sportscar manufacturer’s identity.

Next year, the Renault Formula 1 team will change its name to AlpineF1Team, which is also the cause of the rumours surrounding the departure of team principal Cyril Abiteboul. Luca de Meo, the new CEO of the Renault Group, has now put an end to these rumours.

Alpine is Renault’s sports brand and with this, the French brand wants to take the same step as Alfa Romeo did a few years ago. The whole team will be reorganised under the leadership of De Meo. Marcin Budkowski was mentioned earlier as a replacement for Abiteboul, but De Meo has now announced that the current team boss will remain in place.

“I have asked Cyril to be the architect of this new movement,” explains De Meo on Motorsport.com. “Abiteboul is a very important part of Renault’s history. Now is the time to reposition the sports car division and for the time being there will be no change in the top of the Formula 1 team”. Next year Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso will be driving for the AlpineF1 Team.

RENAULT CONFIRMS : ABITEBOUL TO HEAD UP ALPINE RENAULT CONFIRMS : ABITEBOUL TO HEAD UP ALPINE

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