A brand restructuring by the Renault Group has been announced today. The restructuring aims to increase the organization’s focus on its four primary businesses, namely Renault, Dacia, Alpina, and New Mobility.
How does this concern F1? Well, it does because Renault F1’s team principal Cyril Abiteboul has been appointed as the new head of the Alpine brand. As such, his job revolves around the “Creation, organization, and implementation” of the brand.
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So with Abiteboul set to manage two roles, the talk doing the rounds is that Renault could either incorporate the Alpine brand to its current F1 team name, or they could rebrand their F1 team as Alpine F1. There hasn’t been any official word yet, but according to Motorsport.com, “There are suggestions that an announcement confirming the plan could come as early as this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.”
Abiteboul himself is expected to talk about this matter on Friday’s press conference for team principals. Alpine haven’t featured as a constructor or engine supplier in F1 thus far. However, they currently participate in LMP2 of the World Endurance Championship, under the name Signatech Alpine team.
Alpine as a brand was on the brink of a shutdown due to the pandemic. However, clearly the Renault Group sees them playing a big part in their organization’s future.
What visible changes could take place if Renault were to be renamed?
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Cyril Abiteboul
One of the biggest visual changes one could expect would be the color of the team’s livery. Alpine could potentially drop the current black and yellow color scheme of the Renault F1 team. Instead, they could choose to run a dark blue livery, which is currently seen on their LMP2 cars. For visual reference, think of last year’s Toro Rosso colors.
They will obviously continue to use the Renault engines, so no changes there. But there remains the possibility of Abiteboul resigning as the team’s principal to focus on his new role. We’ll most likely find out more about that by the end of the day.
For the moment, however, they still very much remain Renault F1. And as such, their focus will be on this weekend’s race in Monza where much is expected of them.
They were brilliant in Spa, with Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon coming home in P4 and P5 respectively. A repeat of that performance would certainly make them very happy.
