Former Renault team boss Abiteboul on Alpine: 'Don't understand that'

Cyril Abiteboul was the French marque's team boss for many years until Renault changed to Alpine. The 45-year-old Frenchman has now seen Laurent Rossi, Otmar Szafnauer, Pat Fry, and Alan Permane leave within a month because of disappointing results and a new direction Alpine wish to take. Abiteboul has given his opinion on this situation.

When asked about what he thinks this means about the atmosphere within the team, Abiteboul replied, "It reflects dissatisfaction with the results and very likely a loss of patience on the part of the Renault group's management committee. Apart from impatience, perhaps there was a bit of arrogance at the beginning of the season or an overdose of self-confidence. If you don't face reality, after a while, you can delude yourself with all kinds of fairy tales."

Abiteboul on Alpine

The Alpine A523 was on the podium once this time when Esteban Ocon finished third in the Monaco Grand Prix. It was a bright spot for the French team, as good results were sparse. The car has not been competitive enough, resulting in a disappointing sixth place in the constructors' championship as they enter the summer break. However, Abiteboul says that also has to do with some bad luck, which caused many potential points to go up in smoke.

"Sometimes it goes well, sometimes very well, but other times it goes less. But Alpine is not alone in this. The differences in competitiveness have affected everyone this season, with the exception of Red Bull, who have such an advantage that they know how to get out of any situation, no matter how messy. Alpine, on the other hand, has always been a bit off. Sometimes it's their fault, sometimes not."

He continued at France Info: "The competitiveness of the car was below par at the beginning of the season, and they have not gone through the miraculous evolution that other teams have: McLaren recently, Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin at the beginning of the season. Alpine has not played the card that would get them out of the quagmire."

100-race plan looks set to be scrapped

In 2021, (the now also sidelined) CEO Laurent Rossi pronounced that Alpine should be able to take the title after 100 races. We are now 50 GPs on, but the loudly expressed ambitions seem a bit too high, especially when you look at the current standings in the constructors' championship.

Abiteboul, himself team boss of predecessor Renault between 2015 and 2020, did not understand the statements from the first moment. "Why quantify? Why not 120? Why not 80? I don't understand that. When you come up with a plan like that, you are sure to be wrong because you don't know what the others in Formula 1 are doing. The colossal investments of Aston Martin, the incredible momentum of Red Bull, none of that is going to stop just because that hundredth GP Laurent Rossi's been talking about is going to come one day," he concludes.