Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul leaves team amid Alpine reshuffle

Renault has announced that Formula 1 team boss Cyril Abiteboul is leaving the French manufacturer following its Alpine rebrand.

Abiteboul was expected to step aside from his role as team principal in order to take on a new position within the senior management of Alpine, but the Frenchman will instead depart the company altogether.

Laurent Rossi, who was the director of strategy and business development at Renault, has subsequently been appointed as the CEO of Alpine.

Marcin Budkowski has been tipped to takeover as Alpine’s new team principal for the upcoming 2021 F1 season, while former Suzuki MotoGP team boss Davide Brivio is expected to join Alpine in some capacity. 

"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 of his exit.

"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.”

Abiteboul began winking with the Renault F1 team in 2007 and was made an executive director in 2010, before leaving to become Caterham team principal in 2012.

Having left the team following its collapse in 2014, Abiteboul played a key role in Renault’s return as a fully-fledged works outfit in 2016.

Abiteboul led the French manufacturer to year-on-year improvements in 2016, 2017, and 2018, where Renault clinched fourth place in the constructors’ championship.

Renault took back-to-back fifth-place finishes in 2019 and 2020 and scored three podiums last season as it returned to the F1 rostrum for the first time in nine years.

Renault CEO Luca De Meo added: "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.

"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."