'Fernando is quite demanding, but that’s what I like' - Brivio

New Alpine racing director Davide Brivio says he has noted how demanding Fernando Alonso can be, but he takes that as a positive heading into the 2021 Formula 1 season.

Alonso signed to rejoin the former Renault team after two seasons away from F1, while Brivio is making the move to work in the sport for the first time after leading the championship-winning Suzuki MotoGP team last year. While the Spaniard is recovering from a cycling accident in Switzerland and has not been in Enstone for a while, Brivio says a demanding attitude is one that the team needs.

“I’m very excited to see Fernando,” Brivio said. “We have a guy who is a great champion and I can feel (he is) extremely motivated. He’s coming back into a difficult sport, a difficult environment. His desire to be back (in F1) and to fight against everybody shows how strongly motivated he is.

“Chatting with him, you can see how hard he is working, how strong is his desire to be back. So I’m sure he will put in all his effort. If we (can) give him a good package, for sure he will be able to fight for great positions.

“We had some first chats and he felt like a very normal guy – just extremely motivated; extremely willing to find and to put together everything that is necessary to get the best out of the car and the team. He’s not coming back just to drive a car; he’s coming back to try to get some good results and some satisfaction.

“Yeah, he’s quite demanding but that’s what I like. We need these types of drivers who are really keen to put everything together to try to the maximum, so I welcome this kind of attitude and this kind of approach. Of course we will have to work together as best as possible in order to use his abilities and his potential.”

While Renault CEO Luca de Meo wants to see the team winning, Brivio says it would be extremely ambitious to expect such a level of success this year. But he doesn’t want Alpine to lose sight of that goal.

“Of course we want to win – everybody in the team wants to win. But we have to be realistic. Last year we did three podiums, so we started to get close to the top positions, That’s where we have to start from.

“First of all, we have to be fighting for the podium, hopefully regularly fighting for the podium; and then, step-by-step, (improve). Of course the final target is to win.

“This year is kind of a special year because everybody is looking towards 2022, the new regulations and new cars which are under development. So this is a kind of preparation year where we hope in 2022 to improve our competitiveness even more, but winning is always in our target. I’m sure our drivers first, they want to get there. So yes that’s the target, because you need to have a dream, and then you need to work very hard to achieve it.”