Concern expressed over Flavio Briatore “skulduggery” - “I worry about this”

Damon Hill has admitted “I worry about this” as Flavio Briatore makes his high-profile return to F1.

Briatore, who was once given a lifetime ban from Formula 1 for his role in the Crashgate scandal in 2008, has been confirmed as accepting an advisory role for Alpine.

The controversial veteran of the paddock overturned his lifetime ban in 2010 but Hill remains sceptical about his comeback.

“It’s extraordinary. I just don’t get it. It’s baffling to me,” Hill said on Sky Sports from the F1 Spanish Grand Prix.

“I am very disappointed. I listened to the team principals meeting. They were saying ‘why are you so surprised’, in effect.

“They were saying ‘he’s Flavio, he knows the sport, he’s got an incredible history of bringing forward bright ideas’.

“That’s all well and good. But really? What’s he going to bring? It’s opaque to me.

“Is this going forward? He’s not young which isn’t to say that he shouldn’t be there. I’m sure he’s got lots of interesting ideas.

“Maybe he can encourage or give confidence to the team to make decisions which are a little more braver than they would otherwise do.”

Karun Chandhok said: “What’s confusing to me is that it bucks the recent trend of the technical minds going up to the team principal role, and building a structure of technical people.

“Ayao Komatsu, Andrea Stella, James Vowles…

“Obviously he’s not the team principal, Bruno Famin is.

“The only thing I can rationalise is that Bruno is an engineer by background. Maybe they felt that they needed someone with a non-engineering background, and a bit of business nous, to support Bruno’s side.

“That’s the only way I can rationalise how they will work together.”

One of Alpine’s crucial decisions will be whether to remain a manufacturer of engines, or to become a customer team, when the 2026 regulations begin.

“Maybe they need someone like Flavio who can make that decision for them,” Hill said.

“Wash their hands of the whole tricky subject of whether they are a works Renault team.

“That’s what he has been good at. I would say playing fast and loose.

“I am using that term pointedly. He is not bothered by the conventions or the rules, obviously. That’s why he got into trouble.

“But he has maybe seen through problems a little bit more easily than other people.

“But I do worry about this. We don’t want to go back into a world where there is skulduggery going on which leaves a bad taste.”

Chandhok added: “It’s a left-field choice.

“While he hasn’t fully gone away, he hasn’t been involved with a team for a long time.

“He has had his tentacles within driver management. He still manages Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin.

“He has been involved in the commercial side. Hospitality, things like that…

“But he hasn’t been at the coalface of running a team.

“Flav is a clever man, there is no doubt about it.

“A clever businessman, a clever operator in this sport.

“How he will fit in, alongside Bruno Famin, and the rest of the structure at that team is the interesting thing.

“They are in a rebuilding phase but they’ve got to rebuild quickly, I think.”

On track Alpine have endured a difficult year, highlighted by the clash between drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in Monaco.

Ocon earned a telling-off from his employers and it has since been confirmed that he will exit Alpine when his contract expires at the end of this year.