Flavio Briatore approached McLaren engineer Oscar Piastri loves over Alpine team principal role

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Flavio Briatore has spoken to highly-rated McLaren engineer Rob Marshall about taking on a senior management role at Alpine, according to a report.

Alpine have seen plenty of managerial upheaval in recent years. Between the start of 2021 and the spring of last year, four different figures occupied the team principal role.

Briatore returned in 2024 as an advisor and his close links to Renault, the majority shareholders, mean he is effectively in charge of the team. He appointed Steve Nielsen as his managing director last July.

Who is the best person to run Alpine in Formula 1: Christian Horner, Toto Wolff or Flavio Briatore?

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Flavio Briatore made an unsuccessful approach to Rob Marshall

According to Planet F1, Briatore approached Marshall, McLaren’s chief designer, over a ‘team principal-type’ role. The idea was that he would work with Nielsen, rather than replace him.

However, it seems Marshall wasn’t interested in leaving the back-to-back world champions for a team that finished bottom of last year’s standings. As such, Briatore’s plan failed.

• READ MORE: Alpine staff have been disappointed by their lack of ‘grade A treatment’ from Mercedes engineers

While Alpine have also shown an interest in Jonathan Wheatley, who used to work for forerunners Benetton and Renault, he is now poised to join Aston Martin instead. Briatore is no longer ‘actively’ seeking additions to his ‘upper management structure’.

Former Red Bull boss Christian Horner is in talks over a stake in Alpine (the 24% minority share currently held by Otro Capital), but faces competition from Toto Wolff and Mercedes.

What have Oscar Piastri and Andrea Stella said about Rob Marshall?

Marshall joined McLaren in 2024, having previously helped Adrian Newey design several title-winning cars for Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.

When the move was announced back in 2023, Oscar Piastri said, via GPBlog: “I’m really excited to have him on board. Obviously, coming from a team like Red Bull and a very senior position at Red Bull, he’s incredibly highly respected.”

After McLaren won the constructors’ title a year later, an effusive Andrea Stella told Autosport: “I have to say that, working with him, myself, the other technical directors, the entire technical team…if anything, we have been impressed even more than what we expected.”

Marshall is, then, widely regarded as one of the biggest contributors to McLaren’s resurgence. Losing him would have been a major blow.

Indeed, some believe that Marshall is an even bigger loss to Red Bull than Newey. The Milton Keynes outfit gradually surrendered the dominant position they held in 2023 as their car development stalled.