Cyril Abiteboul, the former Alpine boss, emphasises the idea of a driver who possesses the ability to double as a team boss.
With the recent departures of Laurent Rossi (CEO), Otmar Szafnauer (Team Principal), Alan Permane (Sporting Director), and Pat Fry (Technical Director), Alpine is currently engaged in discussions regarding upcoming decisions within the French team’s management.
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Despite the challenge of finding replacements for the senior-level positions, Cyril Abiteboul, the former managing director during the Renault era, expressed his views on Alpine’s performance this season. This encompassed a harsh yet candid assessment of how Alpine ‘has thrown away a lot of points’ and consistently operates a ‘notch below’.
“The car’s competitiveness at the start of the season was below par, and they haven’t had the kind of miraculous evolution that other teams have had: McLaren recently, Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin at the start of the season. Alpine hasn’t pulled the card that would get them out of the swamp.”
Need for a ‘team boss’ like- driver
Cyril also shared his opinions on the team needing a driver with a strong character, willing to step in as a sort of stand-in team boss. He used Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen as examples to back up his point.
“The strength of an individual who can pull 1000 people together is very unifying.”
Regarding Alpine and their current drivers, he suggests that bringing up both Esteban and Pierre might be ‘one too many’. Instead, the team should think about having one driver in the lead, even if the second one has been performing decently.
“When you close your eyes and think of Mercedes, you think of Lewis Hamilton – even though Nico Rosberg did some extraordinary things.
“When you think of Red Bull, you think of the first cycle around Sebastian Vettel. Then the second cycle around Max Verstappen.
Feature Image: (Photo by Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images)