Why Alpine's latest signing could be its best hope of F1 glory

On Wednesday, Autosport dropped the bombshell that Suzuki team boss Davide Brivio would exit his role with the reigning MotoGP world champions to likely take up a role with the rebranded Renault outfit Alpine in Formula 1.

It is a wholly unexpected move, one which was only decided on recently. With just over a month until the first pre-season test for the 2021 MotoGP campaign is due to get underway, the turnaround for Suzuki to find his successor will be quick - although project leader Shinichi Sahara will steer the ship in the meantime.

Suzuki announced Brivio's departure on Thursday morning, and while no comments has been forthcoming from the Renault camp, the Italian is all set to become CEO of Alpine F1.

The Brivio news caused quite a stir on social media, but also inevitably raised questions from those unfamiliar with the goings on of MotoGP as to what all the fuss was about. But it's for good reason that people are making a fuss.

Brivio is veteran in the world of motorcycles. A former motorcycle journalist, he headed the satellite Pirovano Yamaha team in World Superbikes in 1990. This began a stint with the Japanese manufacturer that would last 20 years, as he went on to run Yamaha's factory WSBK effort from 1995 until 2000.

He moved into grand prix racing with Yamaha in 2001 and oversaw the preparation of the Yamaha MotoGP team's race department at the Italian base it has resided at since 2002. Soon becoming the factory Yamaha outfit's team manager, Brivio was key to ending the world championship drought it had endured since Wayne Rainey's 1992 500c title win.

Brivio did this by convincing Valentino Rossi - back then a three-time MotoGP world champion - to join the marque from Honda for 2004. With Rossi's famed technical crew, helmed by crew chief Jeremy Burgess, Rossi won Yamaha's first race since 2002 at the first time of asking in the 2004 season-opener in South Africa. He would win that year's world title and add a further three to his tally in 2005, 2008 and 2009 before quitting for Ducati at the end of 2010. Brivio also left his post at Yamaha.

Having picked Yamaha up off the floor following a lean period in the early 2000s, Brivio was tasked to helm Suzuki's return to MotoGP for the 2015 season after financial woes had forced its withdrawal following the 2011 campaign.

"Suzuki works very well because I think Brivio made a fantastic job, he's able to fuse the work from Japan with the very strong work in Italy" Valentino Rossi

From a worrying start to the GSX-RR's life at a wildcard appearance in the 2014 Valencia GP, in which test rider Randy de Puniet broke all of his engines - including in the race - Suzuki was a grand prix winner again by 2016, when Maverick Vinales stormed to victory at the British Grand Prix that year. Four years later, Brivio's plucky squad gave Suzuki its first world championship in two decades with Joan Mir.

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Alpine (and Renault) could really do with some of that Brivio magic. When Renault returned to F1 as a works entity in 2016, it managed just eight points as the Enstone outfit previously known as Lotus tried to rebuild itself following a period of severe financial issues under previous owner Genii Capital. Renault did take steps forward, finishing sixth in the constructors' table in 2017 and fourth in 2018. When it pulled a blinder for 2019 and poached Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull, big things were expected.

But Renault ended 2019 with fewer points than it did in 2018 and had slipped behind Renault customer McLaren to fifth in the constructors' championship. When McLaren came knocking about a 2021 drive, Renault's expensive star asset was quick to put pen to paper. Although Ricciardo scored Enstone's first podiums since Romain Grosjean in the 2015 Belgian GP during the Lotus era, Renault still finished 2020 behind McLaren and Racing Point in the constructors' points.

PLUS: How McLaren triumphed in F1 2020's best battle

Without wishing to devalue the effort that goes into running an F1 team, it's clear Renault has been underperforming relative to the assets it has at its disposal.

Enter Brivio. Suzuki may be a factory entrant in MotoGP, but it operates on a much smaller budget compared to its Japanese counterparts Yamaha and Honda. Suzuki is also the only manufacturer in MotoGP other than Aprilia without a satellite squad, thus limiting the data it can collect in its bid to develop its GSX-RR. Part of what has allowed Suzuki to be a championship force in MotoGP is what Brivio has been able to do with what's at his disposal - working smarter, not harder.

"The budget that we reserve to the racing is not as big as the other manufacturers, probably," Brivio conceded last November when asked if Suzuki's smaller budget forced it to work in a different way.

"But that's true, to not have unlimited resources or huge resources forces you to be more creative, to try to think more. And for instance, in terms of staff we probably have less staff than others. Of course, sometimes we desire to increase the number of people. But on the other side maybe it makes less confusion. So, you have to find the right balance between having enough people and not too many. So, let's say we are good. We have everything we need."

The Suzuki MotoGP project is split across Italy and Japan, much like Yamaha's. Yamaha won half of the 14 races of the 2020 season, but didn't win either the riders', teams' or constructors' championship, while its top rider was Franco Morbidelli on a year-old satellite M1. The top 2020 M1 was Maverick Vinales in sixth, four places behind Morbidelli. Suzuki won just twice with Mir and Alex Rins, but the GSX-RR proved to be a much more consistent package, with Mir scoring the most podiums of anyone in 2020 on his way to the riders' crown.

While all at Suzuki seemed rosy, finger pointing and dismay from its riders at the current state of affairs was the order at Yamaha. Rossi even said Yamaha's engineers back in Japan simply do what they want regardless of what feedback riders give them. The key trait he sees in Suzuki's success is the fact Brivio has been able to unify the Italian race team with the Japanese arm. Given Alpine's effort operates out of Enstone and Renault's engine department at Viry Chatillon, you begin to see why Brivio is an attractive prospect.

"Suzuki works very well because I think Brivio made a fantastic job, he's able to fuse the work from Japan with the very strong work in Italy," Rossi said last year. "Especially, he's able to convince the Japanese to work together with the Europeans and the Italians, and he makes a very strong team. And it's not a case that the bike is so fast and it improved like this."

With F1 set for a car revolution in 2022 - delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic - a big opportunity lies ahead for Alpine as it eyes a return to winning ways. The team's numerous personnel changes, with the likes of Pat Fry and Marcin Budkowski coming into the fold, shows a team taking things seriously. As does its huge investment in its infrastructure at Enstone.

It's been enough to tempt double F1 world champion Fernando Alonso back to its fold for this season and while the wisdom someone as experienced as Alonso will bring will be invaluable, the Spaniard is a volatile substance, unstable if things don't go as they should - as Renault itself can attest to.

PLUS: How Renault plans to manage the "new" Alonso

Brivio seems like the sensible head overseeing things needed to keep a fiery spirit like Alonso's in check, and his many years by Rossi's side in MotoGP makes him expertly qualified in legend management. Looking ahead, Brivio also brings with him the other trait which has made Suzuki's MotoGP return so successful.

All the pieces are there for Alpine and Renault to strike it big in F1 again, and Brivio's track record with Suzuki is proof it will have the man to ensure all of those elements are deployed effectively, while also keeping its future in mind

From the start, Brivio insisted on young talent. He brought Maverick Vinales up to MotoGP for 2015 after the 2013 Moto3 world champion had served just one year in Moto2. Vinales, of course, made Suzuki a race winner again.

When Vinales left for Yamaha, Brivio picked Alex Rins out of Moto2. The Spaniard has since won three races, giving Suzuki its first brace of victories in a season since 2000 in 2019. And of course, there's Suzuki's signing of Mir - again after just one year in Moto2 - for 2019. So convinced in their potential, Brivio got Rins and Mir to commit to Suzuki until the end of 2022 before racing even got underway last year.

Renault has put a lot into its junior drivers, but it couldn't hide its disappointment in the performances of Guanyu Zhou and Christian Lundgaard in Formula 2 last season. Neither look F1-ready yet. This is in stark contrast to the embarrassment of riches Ferrari has had in the last few years with its young driver pool. Alonso will likely be around for two years, while Esteban Ocon isn't on firm ground beyond 2021 given his links to Mercedes and his somewhat disappointing year alongside Ricciardo.

While Ferrari has banked on Charles Leclerc as its future hope, Red Bull has Max Verstappen and George Russell is all but assured to lead Mercedes in the not-too-distant future, Renault doesn't have anyone it can bank on for the next five to ten years. But Brivio's keen eye for youthful talent and his ardent belief in offering them factory opportunities is something Alpine and Renault will certainly benefit from.

All the pieces are there for Alpine and Renault to strike it big in F1 again, and Brivio's track record with Suzuki is proof it will have the man to ensure all of those elements are deployed effectively, while also keeping its future in mind.

Suzuki and MotoGP will lose a real giant, but Alpine has pulled off a major coup with its latest acquisition, one which may well have set it on the path to the world championship absent from its scorecard since 2006...