Exclusive AUTOhebdo – De Meo formalizes the arrival ofAlpine in F1: “Accelerate brand awareness”

Like the heart of any Italian car enthusiast, that of Luca de Meo beat for the Team when he watched the Grands Prix on television during his childhood. The years have passed and the Milanese tifoso today watches over the destiny of the Group Renault.

 “I went from red to yellow,” he tells us over the phone with a smile in his voice. And now it’s blue’s turn! ". It was a few hours before announcing in Monza, ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, the arrival ofAlpine in the world of Grands Prix.

As of the 2021 season, the Renault team Formula 1 will in fact be called Alpine F1 Team. A strategic image choice that the new boss of the Losange explained to us in preview.

We are proud to announce that #AlpineF1Team enter # Formula1 ! Starting from the 2021 season, Groupe Renault's team becomes Alpine F1® Team, equipped with a Renault E-TECH hybrid engine
https://t.co/9mDu0W1CRZ pic.twitter.com/xfJDonJJP2

- Renault Groupe (@Groupe_Renault) September 6, 2020

« Formula 1 must be a constructors' championship with prestigious brands that have made the history of the category, but also the history of automobiles more generally., specifies De Meo.

Alpine fits well with this spirit, including the association with Renault as engine manufacturer of course. It is a choice which is part of the reorganization of Renault announced a few days ago.

We makeAlpine one of our business entities. The idea is to put Formula 1 at the center of a 360° system with activities linked to engineering, the brand Alpine itself, the products, the Dieppe site (Seine-Maritime). ".

The new general manager of the French manufacturer, formerly of the Volkswagen Group, readily recognizes it: the sporting DNA ofAlpine draws its roots from rally with the famous Berlinette of the 1970s, as well as in endurance (victory in 24 Hours of Le Mans 1978). De Meo now intends to use the platform offered by F1 to “ enormously accelerate the notoriety of a brand which is centered on Europe, particularly France ».

F1 as a locomotive of recovery

For this, De Meo charged Cyril Abiteboul, team principal of the Renault F1 Team and general director of Renault Sport Racing, to structure the brand Alpine, which is one of the 4 autonomous “business units” on which the restructuring of Renault announced Thursday is based, with Renault, Dacia, and a division called Nouvelles Mobilités.

In this undertaking of global recovery of the group, Formula 1 is destined to play the locomotive.

« Cyril knows the house, he knows how to organize a team, he explained. I asked him to help me set up a system that works. I'm passionate about what he's doing with the F1 team and it's a pleasure to watch them work. I want to highlight their important role in the entire system.

I consider Formula 1 a bit like the great school of the automobile sector. This is equivalent to getting your PhD at university if you like. That’s how I see things, and I want our team to see itself as such.

This also means that team members have a responsibility towards the 180 other people who work in the group. They must lead the way with a return to performance worthy of the Renault name. Formula 000 must do it before the others ».

The challenge is not lacking in scope, but the man clearly does not lack ambition.