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Abiteboul out at Renault completely as Alpine gets new CEO
Cyril Abiteboul has left Groupe Renault and will no longer be involved with the Formula 1 team or overall Alpine brand, with Laurent Rossi becoming Alpine CEO.
The Frenchman has headed up Renault’s F1 project since 2014, when he became managing director, and was due to lead Alpine as part of an overall company restructuring. The F1 team is also being rebranded Alpine this year, but now Abiteboul will not be involved with the company at all after his departure was announced on Monday.
“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,” Abiteboul said. “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.”
Alpine will now be headed up by Rossi who was formerly director of strategy and business development at Groupe Renault, and Renault CEO Luce de Meo says Abiteboul leaves the team in a strong position.
“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,” de Meo said. "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.”
Marcin Budkowski became a director of Renault Sport Racing earlier this month and could take on the role of team principal, with former Suzuki MotoGP team manager Davide Brivio also linked with a senior F1 position at Alpine.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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