Flavio Briatore to replace Frederic Vasseur at Ferrari? His dry answer

Flavio Briatore at Ferrari is a prospect destined not to materialize. At least not anytime soon, and especially not by presenting the Piedmontese executive in place of Frederic Vasseur, team principal of the Maranello team since 2023 (when he took Mattia Binotto’s place). And confirming this was the very man who in Benetton and Renault accompanied the first great successes of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. And who, currently, works in Alpine as an executive supervisor.

Intervening at RadioRai microphones on the program ‘La Politica nel Pallone’, Briatore was clear about whether he would work for the Cavallino in the future. “I am in London with my team, and I am already dealing with my own problems. Sooner or later Ferrari will be able to solve its own – he cut it short -. Then I know Fred Vasseur well, and I can say that he is a person of great competence”.

Briatore&#8217s recipe for seeing the Reds at the top of Formula 1 again, however, is quite different: “To get back to winning, Ferrari has to fine-tune a competitive car. This year, quite simply, it doesn&#8217t have it. Not least because the only really strong ones this season are McLaren”.

Briatore, a Benetton man since the mid-1980s’80s, entered Formula 1 right in the wake of the team’s namesake in 1988. In the following years he became first commercial director and then executive director. By then boss of the Anglo-Italian racing team in 1994 and 1995, he celebrated Michael Schumacher winning his first two world titles in those years. He then also became owner of Ligier, later sold to Tom Walkinshaw. He left the team in 1997 and returned on board in 2001 as executive director after the name change to Renault. He left his role in 2009, only to return again in 2024 in what is now Alpine.

The Piedmontese executive, meanwhile, is completely focused on the ongoing revolution at Alpine. After returning to the French team in 2024 as executive consultant, Briatore has also assumed the role of team principal following the resignation of Oliver Oakes last May. His appointment represented a significant turnaround for the transalpine team, which had been going through a difficult period with only 7 points scored in the first races of the 2025 season before his arrival.

One of the first actions of the Briatore management was the long-term renewal of Pierre Gasly, who extended his contract with Alpine until the end of the 2028 season. The French driver, winner of the Monza GP in 2020, has signed the extension right in Monza in early September, showing confidence in the project led by the Italian entrepreneur’s management. “Pierre has been an immense asset to the team during this difficult period”, Briatore commented, stressing the importance of having confirmed the main driver for the future.

The Alpine revolution also saw the arrival of Franco Colapinto, who replaced Jack Doohan at the wheel of the second car during the 2025 season. The Argentinean, fresh from his experience in Williams, raced for Flavio Briatore’s team from May onward, but has since then reaped little satisfaction and not a single point in the standings. Colapinto, who had joined Alpine as a reserve driver in January on a multi-year contract, nonetheless represents one of the talents Briatore is banking on to relaunch the stable.

Briatore’s ambitions for Alpine are clear and ambitious: “In 2026 we will win races and go on the podium” he had declared in July 2024, highlighting the need to transform the team from “bureaucracy-filled corporate” to “racing team”. With the full powers received from President Luca de Meo, the’former Benetton and Renault boss is working to bring Alpine back to the top of Formula 1, bolstered by the experience that has already led him to win four world titles in his managerial career.