Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore believes the team can return to winning ways despite years of midfield struggles. The Italian, who led Benetton and Renault to four drivers’ and three constructors’ titles, insists Alpine remains the same core team under a different identity. “It’s the same team—Benetton, Renault, Alpine. You change the shirts, tweak performance, but it’s the same,” Briatore told Motorsport.com.

Briatore was brought back last season, around the Spanish Grand Prix, to help revive the struggling outfit, which had fallen to the back of the F1 grid. “I told Luca [De Meo, Renault CEO], let me see if it’s possible. If I still have the same book I had before, to put this team together. But I had one condition—I wanted full control,” Briatore explained. He remains determined to rebuild Alpine.