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Cyril Abiteboul, who joined team Renault F1 Team in 2016 as their team principal, has been asked to leave as part of a shake-up of the top management at the group. The new CEO Luca De Moa, who joined the group from CEAT last year, had earlier announced that the F1 Team will be rebranded as the Alpine team.
Laurent Rossi will be taking over as the new team principal and CEO of the Renault group and will be reporting directly to CEO DE Moa.
In a statement, Abiteboul said:
“I would like to thank the Groupe Renault for having trusted me for many years, particularly with the relaunch and reconstruction of the team since 2016”.
“The solid foundations of the racing team and the entities in France and England built over these years, the strategic evolution of the sport towards a more economically sustainable model, and more recently the Alpine project which provides a renewed sense of meaning and dynamism, all point to a very fine trajectory. I would like to thank Luca de Meo for involving me in the construction of the Alpine Business Unit and I wish the new structure every success.”
Abiteboul helped bring Ricciardo to Renault
Abiteboul played a major role in bringing Daniel Ricciardo over to Renault and has helped the team attain much success over the years. He has gradually making car better each year. He and the Ricciardo had an ongoing bet this year on the getting a podium finish before the driver left to join McLaren.
The driver was able to win the bet and at the Eifel Grand Prix when Riccardo finished 3rd earning Renault its first podium since 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix, which meant the manager had to get a tattoo of the driver's choice.
With new name and new team principal, the team will be looking to follow up on the success set up by Cyril and Ricciardo in the COVID-19 hit 2020 season. They will have a veteran driver in Fernando Alonso guiding them, who has already joined the team and had started working on the car for the 2021 season.
In a statement CEO De Moa said “I would like to warmly thank Cyril for his tireless involvement, which notably led the Renault F1 Team from the penultimate place in 2016 to the podiums last season.
“His remarkable work in F1 since 2007 allows us to look to the future, with a strong team and the new Alpine F1 Team identity to conquer the podiums this year.”
It will be very interesting to see how they fair as they have not been able to replicate the success that they enjoyed in the mid-2000s when helped a young Alonso win a title while going up against the great Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari.
