Flavio Briatore is the current Executive Advisor to the Alpine team, and also performs the duties of team principal. Briatore returned to the Enstone-based team for the third time last year, having been a part of the organization when it was called Benetton and Renault.
Before he ever became a part of the sport, the Italian was involved in the business of restaurants, insurance, finance, and fashion. During his time in F1, he’s been a part of winning seven world championship titles.
What did Flavio Briatore do before F1?
Flavio Briatore was born on 12th April, 1950, in the town of Verzuolo in Italy. He failed state school twice, but graduated from a private institution with passing grades eventually. After his first job as a ski instructor, Briatore started his first enterprise. He opened a restaurant, Tribula, which shut down due to debt. The Italian then spent time selling insurance door-to-door before working as an assistant to Attilio Dutto. Dutto was the owner of the Paramatti Vernici paint company. The paint company proprietor was killed in a car bomb in 1972, and it was soon discovered that his organization was bankrupt.
Given Briatore’s involvement in the business, he was charged with multiple counts of fraud. While he was being prosecuted, he moved to Milan to work as a stockbroker. During that time, he became friendly with Luciano Benetton, founder of the Benetton clothing company. He was then convicted and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison. It was reduced to 14 months on appeal, but it didn’t matter. Instead of spending time in prison, Briatore fled to the US Virgin Islands, living as a fugitive.
He kept his relationship with Benetton ongoing, managing the expansion of his fashion brand in the US. By opening 800 stores by 1989, Briatore had become wealthy. He also eventually quashed his convictions in the EU through amnesty.
Flavio Briatore joins F1
In 1985, the Benetton family bought the Toleman team and rebranded it under their name. A few years later, Briatore was brought in by his friend and business partner to be the commercial director, and soon he was promoted to team principal. In 1991, the Italian secured Michael Schumacher as part of the Benetton team, and success soon followed. While the German and the team won races over the 1992 and 1993 seasons, 1994 is where they truly began dominating. Schumacher would go on to win eight races and the drivers’ championship title. In the following year, Benetton would score a constructors’ championship win, while their driver secured his second title.
In 1998, Briatore was fired from the team by Rocco Benetton, the son of Luciano. Two years later, the Benetton outfit was sold to Renault, and they chose to bring back the Italian as the team’s manager. While he was away from the sport, he became the manager of Spanish driver Fernando Alonso. Alonso soon joined the Renault team in 2003 after spending a season with Minardi. In 2005 and 2006, the French team and the Spaniard won the constructors’ and drivers’ titles back-to-back.
In 2007, Alonso left to join McLaren, but returned to Briatore’s organization the following year.
Flavio Briatore’s lifetime ban from F1
At the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed his Renault car during the race. This crash allowed Fernando Alonso to win the race, thanks to his pitting before the safety car period. In 2009, after Piquet was removed from the team, he spoke out about how he was ordered to crash his car in order for Alonso to win the race. An FIA hearing was convened, but Briatore, who was still leading the team at the time, resigned from his post. He was also handed the punishment of a lifetime ban from the sport, given that he kept denying his involvement in what was dubbed “Crashgate“. Meanwhile, Renault was given a two-year probation sentence, on the understanding that if anything similar were to happen before 2011, the French team would be banned from the sport as well.
After his departure from F1, the Italian would be in the news for his relationships with supermodels, as well as launching his fashion label and opening a string of nightclubs & restaurants. He was also the chairman of a football club and was behind a GP2 series as well.
Flavio Briatore’s return to F1
In 2010, Briatore’s lifetime ban was overturned by French Courts, and he was given compensation of $17,135 (€15,000). But it would take 14 years before he returned to Formula 1. In June of last year, the Italian businessman returned to ‘Team Enstone’, now called Alpine, to be its executive advisor. He was brought back by Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo to help out with the midfield organization.
In May of this year, Oliver Oakes, the team principal of Alpine, resigned, and while he currently looks for Oakes’ replacement, Flavio Briatore has now assumed full leadership of the French outfit.
