Alpine have brought Flavio Briatore back to Formula 1 as their executive adviser, so here is everything you need to know about the Italian the FIA once banned from F1.
Briatore returned to the Grand Prix paddock before the 2024 Spanish GP as Groupe Renault CEO Luca de Meo sought to improve Alpine. The Enstone squad had started the season with just five points from the opening nine rounds and saw several team members leave, as well.
It marked a return to Enstone for Briatore, who was forced to resign from his position as the team principal of Renault in 2009. He had led the French manufacturer to their only drivers’ and teams’ championships in Formula 1 in the 2005 and 2006 season with Fernando Alonso.
Flavio Briatore was the team principal of Renault from 2000 to 2009
De Meo brought Briatore back to F1 as an executive adviser to Alpine with the remit of him scouting and targeting top driver and leadership talents. He showed a keen eye for talent in the Italian’s first run in Enstone with Briatore also signing Michael Schumacher for Benetton.
Team Enstone has passed through several hands but Briatore first joined whilst operating as Benetton. The Italian was already working for Benetton in the fashion industry and oversaw its substantial growth in America over the 1980s, at which point Benetton bought Toleman.
Benetton considered shutting Toleman down before Luciano Benetton took Briatore to the 1988 Australian GP. Luciano also appointed Briatore as the Benetton F1 team’s commercial director in 1989 before naming him as team principal in 1991 having overhauled the team.
Briatore hired Tom Walkinshaw to head up Benetton’s technical team, which also saw Ross Brawn join in 1992. But another of his masterstrokes fell into place in 1991 when Briatore convinced Schumacher to leave Jordan after his Formula 1 debut at that year’s Belgian GP.
Schumacher would go on to win two world championships for Benetton in 1994 and 1995 before the German joined Ferrari in 1996. Benetton also won both year’s teams’ titles with Briatore, but replaced the Italian at the end of 1997 and he started to sell Renault engines.
When Renault then sought a return to F1 with a team of their own and bought Benetton in 2000 before rebranding the team for 2002, Briatore also returned as the managing director of Renault Sport UK. Over his years away, Briatore also started to work as a driver manager.
The FIA banned Flavio Briatore for his role in Crashgate at the 2008 Singapore GP
Briatore’s return to their helm with Renault and the French manufacturer’s return as a team saw Alonso cement his place on the Formula 1 grid 2003, as well. Together, the Spaniard set the at-the-time records as F1’s youngest pole sitter, Grand Prix winner and world champion.
His records have since fallen but Alonso denied Schumacher the drivers’ title in 2005 and 2006 with Briatore’s Renault. But the glory they once achieved together did not return as Alonso re-joined Renault for 2008 after one season with McLaren beside Lewis Hamilton.
But Renault were not as competitive in 2008 as they once were. So, Briatore conspired with the team’s second driver Nelson Piquet Jr and engineering director Pat Symonds to crash at Turn 17 in a move to help Alonso win the 2008 Singapore GP by causing a safety car period.
Piquet Jr intentionally lost the rear-end of his Renault at a corner that would force a safety car after Alonso pitted. But, after Renault axed the Brazilian in 2009, Piquet Jr revealed the conspiracy to the FIA in return for immunity, leaving Briatore and Symonds to pay the price.
The FIA issued Renault a suspended two-year suspension after deeming Briatore, Symonds and Piquet Jr acted alone. But Briatore received an indefinite suspension, only for France’s high court to later overturn the Italian’s lifetime ban from all forms of motorsport in 2010.
Yet Briatore did not return to working in Formula 1 from 2010 up until Alpine’s offer in 2024. Instead, he focused on the Italian magnate’s career outside of the paddock – along with his role as Alonso’s manager. Briatore has always been active away from the Formula 1 world.
So, with that in mind, F1 Oversteer looks into who Briatore really is and what the executive adviser to the Alpine Formula 1 team’s life outside of the pinnacle of motorsport is like…
What is Flavio Briatore’s age? When was he born?
At the time of writing, Flavio Briatore is 74 years old and was born back in 1950 on April 12.
Where was Flavio Briatore born? What is his nationality?
Flavio Briatore was born in Verzuolo, a commune in northern Italy near Turin. Verzuolo has a modest population of 6,400 residents in 2024 and it has stayed consistent in recent years.
How tall is Flavio Briatore? What is his height in feet?
Standing at a height of 1.88 metres, Flavio Briatore measures in at 6 ft 2 in feet.
Flavio Briatore’s net worth
No reliable publications currently cite an up-to-date valuation of Flavio Briatore’s net worth. But online estimations often suggest the Italian magnate’s wealth is in the region of $400m (£316.5m). The Daily Mail even also claimed that Briatore is a billionaire as of August 2023.
Flavio Briatore had one daughter with Heidi Klum and dated Naomi Campbell
Flavio Briatore has two kids – including one daughter the Italian businessman fathered with the German-American model, Heidi Klum. Briatore and Klum’s daughter is named Leni Klum.
But the parents split during Klum’s pregnancy and Briatore did not have a close relationship with his daughter during her youth. Heidi and Flavio only had a brief relationship after they went public in March 2003, before confirming the model’s pregnancy just two months later.
Briatore is also the dad of Nathan Falco from his marriage with ex-wife, Elisabetta Gregoraci. The Former Renault F1 team boss also dated Naomi Campbell for around five years and got engaged in 1999 after one year together before splitting in 2003 in amicable circumstances.
What does Flavio Briatore do outside of Formula 1?
Along with his successes in a sometimes controversial career as a Formula 1 team principal, Briatore has turned his hand to many business industries since his era working for Benetton in New York. Briatore also worked together with Bernie Ecclestone to buy QPR during 2007.
Briatore worked with Ecclestone and Indian steel giant Lakshmi Mittal to buy Queens Park Rangers FC. But the Italian stepped down as the chairman of the football club in February 2010, before also selling his shares in the Loftus Road outfit to Ecclestone that November.
His business empire today includes the Billionaire brand – an after-dark experience which Briatore created in 1999 – and the Twiga Beach Club in Tuscany. Briatore has also owned a collection of restaurants, including Cipriani in Mayfair, and has also held shares in Pierrel.
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