When Alpine announced Flavio Briatore’s return to management last June, the team’s press release said the newly appointed executive adviser would “focus on top areas of the team.” Less than a year later, his presence firmly covers every aspect of Renault-owned operation, from the 2026 engine plan to the turbulent driver lineup of the past 24 hours. With the departure of team principal Oli Oakes on Tuesday, Briatore returned to the driver's seat, for better or worse.

Briatore returns to the same team, the same team he enjoyed the championship success twenty years ago is destined to cause controversy. In 2009, the FIA ​​issued a lifelong ban on Italians in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix Crashgate scandal, where Briatore instructed Nelson Piquet Jr. to intentionally crash the car to trigger the safety car to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the race. His ban was then overturned by a French court in 2010, and although Brialto remained an influential figure in F1 for the following years, he was not once again directly involved in team management until last summer.

According to a follow-up social media post on the Alps Wednesday, Oaks' resignation - for personal reasons - will allow Briatore to re-record the team's daily operations. Now that his Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are in place, the 75-year-old Italian is once again under his control while enjoying the support of Renault CEO Luca de Meo.

There is no clear view of what is seen from the chaos of the mountain in the past 24 hours. Brialto's infamous gut management style is likely to bring short-term benefits, but the team's long-term prospects are still as blurred as ever.

Colapinto In, Doohan Go Out

For those who flourished Briatore in the mid-2000s, it is no surprise that recent events in the Alps are happening. As headmaster of Renault in 2004, he had earlier that year the only Italian to win the team in Monaco failed to score five straight games. World Champion in 1997, Jacques Villeneuve was selected as Trulli's replacement in the final three games of the season, but struggled to adapt to R24, failing to exceed 10 places outside of the scoring at the time.

Of course, there are several differences in the latest driver swap in Enstone. Rookie Jack Doohan has won only seven games (including his debut at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year), while his backup celebrity Colapinto has won only five games to prove his worth.

However, despite still ostensibly an Ajar returned by Doohan, the extra sponsorship Colapinto brought to the team, and the clumsy timing in the middle of the Red Bull Ring/Silverstone Doubleheader brought back the clumsy timing, suggesting that the Argentinian had to be good again before the British British Grand Prix in July to lose his place again.

So is it fair to cut Doohan after just six games? On the surface, the Australians' performances are incredible. Compared to teammate Gasly's seven, his name is zero, and his best result is at the Bahrain Grand Prix where he ran the top ten in the top ten but ended up at No. 13.

Before that, he had bumped into the first round in his home in Australia, struggling with Gabriel Bortoleto in the final lap of the Chinese sprint, and a huge accident occurred in the practice of the Japanese Grand Prix when he opened the DRS to the first corner of 165 mph. Recently, he may be the last straw for Alpine Management, who crashed from Sunday's game in Miami when he collided with Liam Lawson in the first corner.

His basic speed is respected in Doohan's defense, with an average pass gap of 0.314 seconds against teammate Gasly in standard qualifying and Sprint qualifying. More importantly, in Miami on Saturday, Dawn surpassed Gasly for the first time in a non-print conference, representing an improvement in his likely rookie expectations in the first quarter of the season.

The pressure he has been under should also alleviate Doohan's performance since Briatore signed Colapinto on a loan-style agreement with Williams in January. Before he even drove the latest high mountain in the preseason test, the Australian will replace him in the first five games of the season, facing problems with his future.

The Alps gave Dawn some support in the media, but it said Oaks did not rule out the possibility of early-season driver exchanges. More importantly, everyone connects with the team, including sponsors supporting Colapinto, all bringing endless hints that a move in the Miami era is on the rise.

Perhaps the most convincing pre-season offer came from Williams principal James Vowles, who made it clear that he had released Colapinto to the Alps in order to give Argentina the best chance to play in F1 this year.

"I hope he can compete in 2025 or 2026," Walls explained, explaining that his current Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz's driver lineup has no possibility of promoting the possibility of Colapinto for the foreseeable future. “The best chance he has is in the Alps (get the game in F1), which is why he is there. I’m not saying it’s harmful to Jack. I wish Jack had a successful time.

"But in the end, Franco was the driver I wanted to get back to the car. After a while, he would return to Williams. That period wasn't a line, I could look at you and look at you, but I could say he would return to Williams at some point."

Briatore claimed on Wednesday that the Alps' new rotary driver policy aims to "provide a complete, fair assessment of drivers" ahead of F1's major regulatory changes in 2026. But as Williams seems to be able to call for the return of Colapinto in the next few years, Alpine may end up offering a driver a driver’s campaign, a family’s main racing car.

Meanwhile, Doohan's future and confidence are the only junior driver to be promoted to the Historic Alpine Driver Academy competition, and he looks in serious doubt.

What's next for the Alps?

The chaos of the past 24 hours is very important in the Alps. Since returning to a full engineering team in 2016, the costumes owned by Renault have been renamed the Alps in 2021, winning a fourth match in the structor’s fourth place, winning just one match and winning only nine podiums. It also allowed current champion leader Oscar Piastri to slide from his driver academy to rival McLaren in 2022 - a move that looks even more shocking given Piastri's current form and Alpine's scrabble to find effective teammates.

The unrest in team management is the most obvious reason for its underperformance, with senior personnel turning points particularly fast in the past two years. The revolving door was exported by brand CEO Laurent Rossi in July 2023, followed by a week later by technical director Pat Fry and athletic director Alan Permane's team principal Otmar Szafnauer.

In the aftermath of Exodus, Bruno Famin was appointed as the interim team principal, and then fully played the position later that year. His tenure oversaw the departure of technical director Matt Harman and the head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer, then Hambin himself stood up almost a year after he started.

Famin's exit coincides with Renault Group's decision to shut down its F1 engine program in 2026 and to purchase Mercedes electric units under the next set of regulations. The decision, made after consultation with the newly appointed Briatore, will end at the end of the season with the F1 engine manufacturer's 49 years.

Oakes joined Alpine as a replacement for Famin, and in his first major announcement during his tenure, Doohan was promoted to 2025 racer. However, with Briatore in place, Oakes' strength within the team always seems to be involved in the above approval.

In the initial Alps statement, the team would not comment on why Oaks left, and the next day, the Alps and Brialto posted reports on social media that rejected disagreements.

“In the past 24 hours, a lot has been said, linking Ollie’s decision to resign to the so-called disagreement, or we share different views,” Brialto said. “It’s totally wrong, far from facts.”

Oaks added: "For me, resigning was a personal decision. Flavio was like a father to me and there was nothing else but since I took the role.

The unrealized potential of Alpine’s F1 team remains the greatest frustration for everyone. Despite the turmoil of management, Enstone still has a dedicated and talented workforce that can undoubtedly achieve even greater success with a solid and stable leadership direction.

While the turn to Mercedes Power next year marks the ending device for the Alpine, it can significantly improve performance compared to non-racing races in early 2026. To take advantage of this opportunity, the team needs stability.

Whether it is the latest era under Briatore, stability or just more turmoil, remains to be seen.