By clothing-bag, 06/02/2023

F1 2021: "Fernando Alonso is another level" |Brand

Luca de Meo (Milan 1967) He speaks with a slow cade an almost perfect Spanish, not in vain he spent five years in Barcelona, as president of the SEAT.Today, as CEO of the Renault Group, it is Fernando Alonso's capo in the Alpine F1 team, where a future of several years predicts him.

Ask.How about the first season in Alpine?

Answer.I think that in the end we have achieved our goal that was not step back in a transition season, because we have changed many people.We are also in the last season with rules and we are preparing the car next year.There was a lot.I think that fifth position is a good result, against McLaren that it has a much more powerful and new engine, and you always have the Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, which are teams that have a power that we still do not have.

We have also won a podium, a victory with Esteban that did not expect it, it has been a bit of luck, but well, in Hungary he has made a great grand prize because he did almost the entire race alone and 'you have to have eggs' to do it, with a cold head, and he has done it.

What I like most is that we have marked points in 19 of the GGPP, which means that it is not an accident if we are the fifths...Maybe we have lacked more podiums, or things like that, but marking points every time it means that we are in the game.Now we look at 2022, with a more consolidated team, with two pilots who know each other well, who get along, and we have pushed a lot to create the complicity between them, so that we are a team, because in the end we won together and we lose together together.I do not like internal rivalry, the way to bring a team in which one is against the other, that is poison, that is not Alpine's spirit.

P.Has Fernando Alonso been expected?

R.I remember that the first time I had the opportunity to talk to Fernando, it was the summer of 2020, and I only told him that I was happy that 'you are with us, to follow the tradition you return home, but the only thing youI ask is to be a bit the godfather of the whole team.You have experience, demand, you have to be the one that will take us up '.And sincerely it is what he has done, and even better than I could imagine.I am very happy of what I did.He is never happy, because he wants to do his job well, it is his way of being, but we are very happy.And also with the relationship he has built with the entire team, technicians, engineers, mechanics and ocon.

P.He has left moments to remember, as the way he defended Hamilton in Hungary...

F1 2021:

R.I remember that in the end I started crying.You have to understand that this team could not have followed without my commitment as the group's CEO, because naturally when a company like Renault the first 2020 semester lost as 8.000 million euros in six months, the easiest thing was to say: 'We stop this because we don't know what the return' is'.But I said, we are going to invent a way to revalue something, and that's why we have started with the Alpine project, which goes beyond the Racing theme.It is a brand that is built with its products, with its network, with its business, which has as a center the competition and that this activity will give us visibility, credibility to all the rest.It has been a way to use the ingredients differently, to combine them, something that in a few years could generate business.

After 43 years in yellow, many people in Renault asked me: why do you want to paint it with the French tricolor? But now everyone in the company likes the project a lot, they like Alpine.We see it as the creme of the creme of our organization, and gives attention to the whole company to reach the level of being able to participate here, it gives pride to the people.When I have seen Esteban winning the first GP in Alpine's story in F1, it has been an important moment, because it was the way to say that the decision I have made a few months earlier, was the good.Now we don't talk about doubts.

P.The slogan of Alonso's plan, which even goes on the rear wing.How far can you get in 2022?

R.In the end the plan in the language of companies is a minimum between three and five years, one year is a 'Budget' (a budget).If you want to talk about plan, I tell you that we have an option of 3 to 5 years to become competitive, to be able to win races regularly, in the end, we can win a world championship.It is a goal of all, like those of Aston Martin, Ferrari, Red Bull...In the end everyone wants to win, we are also here dreaming about a championship one day.But all this is so difficult, our competitors are so good, that you never know, it is not something that you put in a calculator and you get such a result, it will depend on many things.It is clear that we have a long -term commitment in this series and we have the ambition to be competitive, and I think it is possible that we can be among the best to compete, sometimes win, sometimes a podium, problems...Renault is one of the historical ones and there are only three that produce engines now, with Honda, four, we are actually: Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault.Our team is different, because it is a double team, and they are more than 40 years that we are here.

Renault's position is not being in the middle, the position is above.I cannot say when, because then you can say that 'De Meo has said that in 2023 we will win the world championship', and if you do not want, it is useless.The important thing is to be with the attitude of wanting this sport and wanting to invest.

P.What are the big challenges for 2022?

R.Next year, we will see it again in Barcelona.When people put the car in Montmeló, we will see who has done the job.What I can say is that everything changes, we traditionally had handicap in the issue of aerodynamics due to the engine architecture issue, when the chassis changes the aerodynamics, which will be a little less shocking...The reality is that next year will be less important than it has been so far.In the end you mechanically take away a disadvantage.We have given ourselves ambitious objectives, they say that we are achieving this in development, there are still a few months.

And then there is a different thing, because this car was already three years old, it had reached the end of its life cycle, but the different thing is that we are going to change the motor architecture next year, this will give us an enginemuch finer, which will allow us to win points in aerodynamics.Then you have to see what is the 'performance' of this engine, but they tell me that development is going well.But you don't know, everyone will say the same.They will be more horses, I can't say how many, but surely the intention is to close the budget.It also depends on the capacity of the team, the plan you have to improve, what they tell me is that the car will have much more development potential of the current one, which has reached the limit.If you talk to Fernando, he will tell you that he has taken everything he could;Sometimes he gives three or four laps, he returns to the box and says: 'We can't do more'.But the car next year can improve a lot during the season.

P.Fernando has a more contract and Esteban until 24, how will Fernando convince him to keep running with Alpine from 23?

R.With the first plan, and then he has to find motivation.I sincerely see him hyper motivated, because Renault is also his family.There is something special for him, it is not about any team, it is an environment where we give him the role he deserves.I don't think there is a better room for him to continue, and we will always help him before and after F1.

P.Is the impact of having Fernando Alonso shows in the data?

R.He is one of the most famous pilots, of which he has the most followers, has an impact on some countries.Fernando has another level, it is one of the legends of this sport, they know him around the world.This is also a positive effect.But in the F1 we are not to do marketing, but to win.

P.It has been published in France that there could be changes in the 'staff'.

R.There will always be changes, because it is a team that has had changes last year, but in F1 the contracts that people have are very long.Before being able to activate a signing, they spend one or two years, and we fight to have talents.That is why we must not be surprised that there are changes.My people know it, know that if they don't do it well, I'm always going to look, until I find the starting eleven.

P.Does the captain look like Aston Martin?

R.Over there it goes.Here is like 'Calcio Mercato'.

P.Davide Brivio was asked to come to the F1 leaving MotoGP, there are also rumors that I could return there...

R.Davide has his post on the team.I think he is a person who has many human qualities that we needed to connect people.It has great sensitivity to develop the talent of young people, pilots...He has his position, he has to decide, but it seems to me that he has all the intention of following integration into a very different world.I always tell my personal story.When I went from Fiat to Volkswagen, nor did I spoke a word of German, and in Italy it was a 'semi -covered', because I spoke with Marchionne and we turned the Fiat.And when I arrived at Wolksburg, they treated me like a school boy...

P.Brands like DS are going to sell only electric cars from 2024.How does F1 fit in Alpine with electrification?

R.In my opinion, like all things, the world is not just black and white, there are gray, if it wouldn't be a bit sad.Black and white, for me that I am 'Juventino', it is fine.But I think that F1 has potential and that is the discussion we are having for the rules from 2025 to 2030, to change this perception of non -sustainability.When we talk about greater hybridization, synthetic fuels...There is a lot of potential.The F1 engine today is the most efficient combustion engine in the world.I am not very supportive of the electric ones, because racing cars have to make noise.I have some ideas of how zero impact could be made on a combustion engine, but I keep all this for me.

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