Romain Grosjean admitted he was surprised by the change of philosophy in the management of Formula One team Renault F1/Alpine, but praised Davide Brivio, the new director after Cyril Abiteboul's resignation.

Grosjean, who will compete in IndyCar next season, was a junior driver at Renault for many years and drove for the French racing team in 2009. He also competed for the team when they competed under the name Lotus between 2012 to 2015. He scored eight podiums. When he signed with Haas for his final years in Formula One, he always kept in touch with a lot of the staff who worked at Renault and Grosjean says he is curious to see how things will go at the team now called Alpine.

New challenge

After a review of the team's senior management, including Abiteboul's leaving, Grosjean says he is optimistic about how the team is preparing for the challenge ahead. "I've been watching and following the changes and I think I was quite surprised," he shared with Motorsport about Brivio, who left MotoGP after winning World championships in that class as Suzuki boss. ''I'm a big MotoGP fan so of course, I followed his career and watched the championship they won in 2020. He knows racing very well, so hopefully, it will be a good move for Renault. Also, Marcin at the top of the factory will contribute a lot.''

''I spent 10 years of my life at Renault, so I really wish them the best and I hope they can continue on what they did last year. It should go well for them,'' Grosjean said.

Innovations

Renault have been renamed Alpine for next season. This is part of the renewals and reorganisation being introduced by the team's new CEO Luca de Meo to boost the French carmaker's various brands.

Following the switch of Daniel Ricciardo to McLaren, the team keeps Esteban Ocon and has contracted Fernando Alonso for a return to Formula One. The team plans to launch the new car, the A521, later this month in an all-new colour scheme.