Briatore: We need to start winning races in 2026

Briatore has been busy since he was called by Renault CEO Luca de Meo to help him steer Alpine back into competitiveness.

He has since brought in a new team principal in the form of Oliver “Ollie” Oakes replacing Bruno Famin and went on to drop Renault power replacing it with Mercedes from 2026 onwards.

While the flamboyant Italian previously set 2027 as the year when Alpine become title contenders, he believes winning can come, or has to come earlier.

He said ahead of the 2025 F1 season: “This season is important because we need preparing ourselves for 2026 when we need to start winning races.

“In ’26 we have the Mercedes engine and, in the meantime, we need to fit in more people with experience in our team.”

Briatore reckons that Alpine will become attractive to F1 talent once it shows improvement.

He continued: “It is the same as at Benetton, people said it was a joke because we were a t-shirt maker.

“But after we started winning some races, everybody wanted to come to the team, people started paying attention. In the same way as Renault.

“If everybody is working together, I believe in 2026 it is possible to be winning races and in 2027 fighting for the championship,” he concluded.

Alpine will field a revised driver lineup in 2025 with rookie Jack Doohan replacing Esteban Ocon alongside Pierre Gasly.

Franco Colapinto is one of several reserve drivers the team will have access to should Doohan fail to deliver.