Flavio Briatore defends controversial F1 decisions, including replacing Jenson Button with Alonso—while Button claims he tried to rehire him.
Flavio Briatore acknowledges having made mistakes in his career, often when appointing a driver and later deciding they should be replaced. He particularly reflects on the decision to replace Jenson Button with Fernando Alonso at the end of 2002.
“Mistakes are inevitable. If you’re doing things, you’re going to make some. What matters is to correct course quickly as soon as you realize it, without letting your pride keep you on the wrong path,” Briatore told Corriere della Sera.
He confirmed that the replacement of Jack Doohan with Franco Colapinto falls into that category: “Exactly. It’s a good example. Even in the past, I decided to put a very young Fernando Alonso in the seat instead of the more experienced Jenson Button.”
“He was only a test driver at the time. That decision triggered outrage from the British press. But in the end, I was right. A manager is always alone when making big decisions. Then, over time, things fall into place.”
Briatore held a long-standing grudge against Button, often criticizing him publicly, such as in 2009 during the Englishman’s championship season with Brawn GP, when he claimed the team’s dominance handed the title to “the wrong driver.” Button believes it was bad faith and reveals that Briatore was frustrated because he had tried to rehire him.
“He was obviously very angry about the diffuser issues and clearly disappointed they hadn’t built a car as competitive as ours. We had produced a very competitive car thanks to the hard work we put in at Brackley, and you can’t take that away from them – it was very unfair to say that,” Button lamented.
“They worked very, very hard under very difficult circumstances, and it was very unfair of Flavio to comment as he did, just because he was a bit bitter. And I can reveal he also shouldn’t forget that he tried to hire me again for that season.”