How Renault plans to manage the "new" Alonso

While Renault hopes newly-signed Formula 1 returnee Fernando Alonso can bring the speed and experience to aid it's push towards the front of the grid by 2022, the French manufacturer is equally aware that his return to the team for the first time since 2009 brings its own challenges too.

Opinion is already pretty divided among fans on whether Renault has done the right thing in opting for experience over youth by plumping for 38-year-old Alonso - who will be 39 when the 2021 season starts - but also there is little doubt that the pressure is now really on the team to deliver a car worthy of the two-time world champion's undoubted talent.

While today's announcement marked a celebratory moment for Renault in recapturing the services of its most successful modern-era driver, who won both his world titles with the Enstone squad in 2005 and 2006, it is equally not shying away from the challenges that lie ahead.

Key lessons have been learned in the 18 months since Renault signed Daniel Ricciardo, not least how increased expectations serve to raise pressure if results don't come. There is also an acceptance that things will be even more intense from now on.

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But for Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul, who admits that his grey hairs have increased as a result of everything the team has been through with McLaren-bound Ricciardo, there was never a point of hesitation in choosing to put the team through the mill once again with a top line star leading its charge.

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Because, for all the downsides that come with pressure to improve, such stress does act as a catalyst for change.

Abiteboul is adamant, for example, that the gains Renault has made with its car since last year would not have been possible without the added hassle of living up to Ricciardo's expectations. He is clear the same will be true of Alonso too.

"We're coming into this, I guess, eyes more open," he tells Autosport from his office in Paris. "I continue to believe that even though my hairs have gone much more white than before, some of the changes that we've done have been done because of the pressure that was coming on the team, and on myself and the rest of management because of Daniel's presence. Plus the pressure that he is bringing to the team because of his talent.

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"We came to Austria much more competitive than we've ever been. Yes, we've not scored as many points as we would have liked or could have probably, but I can tell you, the car is totally different and it's the best winter that we've ever had.

"It's the first time that we are really changing the characteristic of our car since 2016. And, frankly if you ask me, it's probably due to Daniel being with us and putting the pressure that he put on the team, including myself, last year."

The need to be pushed clearly weighed heavy behind Renault's decision to take Alonso, a free agent since his departure from McLaren at the end of 2018, but there were other factors that needed to be taken into consideration before making the call.

It was the motivation factor behind a 'new' Alonso that Abiteboul says won the team over in convincing it to take Alonso over other big star options like Valtteri Bottas or Sebastian Vettel

One was Renault's need to get hold of the right Alonso on his comeback. For when the Spaniard is at his best, in an environment that suits him, he can be an unstoppable force both on track and off it. But when the planets are not aligned, and he feels that what he is bringing isn't matched by those around him, tensions can escalate quickly.

Asked about the two potential downsides of Alonso - the politics and his age - Abiteboul does not deny that they were taken into account before Renault made its decision.

"Of course, how else can I answer? But they need to be put in perspective," he says.

"I think anyone in Formula 1 is coming with a package, and the older you get and the more successful also, there is always some negative story or some negative perception.

"With age - it's like me, it's like you, it's like anyone. But I think the years that he had away from the [F1] track have probably been an opportunity for him to reset - to actually measure how lucky or privileged we are, all of us, to operate and perform in Formula 1 and probably to come with a fresh mindset.

"Let's not forget how the competition can be toxic on people, and on individuals. No matter how hard you try, or how hard you work, you can't win. And it's the sport that does that.

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"It creates this legacy, but that's also why he was so interested in this new profile for the sport, and maybe the opportunity of bringing a new Fernando into the new Formula 1."

It was the motivation factor behind a 'new' Alonso that Abiteboul says won the team over in convincing it to take Alonso over other big star options like Austrian GP winner Valtteri Bottas or outgoing Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.

It also left the team convinced that now was the right time to move and sign up its 2021 line-up, rather than wait until the end of the year to see if either of its young F2 stars Guanyu Zhou or Christian Lundgaard were ready, or even had enough superlicence points.

"It has been a mix of things," Abiteboul says of the reasons for signing Alonso now. "The timing was important.

"For the younger options, we remain extremely committed to the Renault Sport Academy and in particular, Guanyu Zhou and Christian Lundgaard in F2, who were the first natural people to join F1.

"But I guess that's one consequence of this year. We may have to wait until mid-December to know if they have a superlicence for next year. And that would not have been an option, frankly.

"Going back to the other options, I guess that above everything else, I would put the motivation and mental frame there. The talent is there with Fernando and it is also there with Vettel and Bottas. There is no doubt about that.

"Managing his expectation, his own expectation, will be probably the starting point of a strong and fruitful relationship" Cyril Abiteboul

"But the mix of the mindset and motivation were important elements, plus also the timing of this crisis."

Abiteboul knows above all else that the key to making a success of Alonso will be in his own management of the situation.

Alonso seems well aware that he will not have a winning car from the off next year, so there won't be desperation for instant success. But there will be an expectation the team will keep improving and being there with a sniff of podiums from 2022.

History has shown that Alonso can be a tough one for team bosses to manage, which is why Abiteboul is happy to call on a former Renault boss for advice.

"I guess the only one who has been successful in that respect is Flavio [Briatore, above], and I think it's no secret that I grew up myself with Flavio," he says.

"I've seen also some of the things that he was doing with Fernando and I keep on having some dialogue with Flavio. He's around, and he has been amongst many people - and I'm not going to mention them - but he's been part of today's announcement.

"I take inspiration in what I will have to do next year in the way that I will handle Fernando. But for me again, the new Fernando, fresh from his [time] off from F1, I think will be a better Fernando.

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"I will make sure to be extremely transparent with him, because he's a smart person. He understands and knows a lot about F1, so the one thing that I would never do is lie to him - or over promise and under deliver.

"So managing his own expectation, will be probably the starting point of a strong and fruitful relationship."