Flavio Briatore controversially returns to Formula 1 despite receiving lifetime ban

Flavio Briatore has returned to Formula 1 as Alpine’s new team principal, 16 years after receiving a lifetime ban for being apart of one of motorsport’s most infamous scandals.

The recent resignation of Oliver Oakes has meant the Italian has made a return to F1 as team principal of Alpine.

The decision appears to have come from Briatore pushing for Jack Doohan to be replaced by Franco Colapinto, which was a decision confirmed the morning after his appointment.

Briatore has been sidelined after more than a decade following the 2009 Crashgate scandal.

The incident, which is one of F1’s biggest ever controversies, saw Renault order then driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash his car at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help teammate Fernando Alonso to win the race.

Alonso was cleared of any guilt in the aftermath, however Renault were charged by the FIA, with Briatore being removed from his role as team principal and managing director.

This was shortly followed with a lifetime ban by the FIA for his part in the incident, before seeing it overturned in 2010.

Despite this, there has been outrage from F1 fans across social media.

Btw I thought Flavio Briatore was supposed to be banned for life

— Fifth Gear (@NotFifthGear) May 6, 2025

It is totally insane how a person, who was banned from the sport, for deliberate cheating – can return to the role of a Team Principal.

— MDM Designs (@mdm_designs) May 6, 2025

Tom Bellingham, co-founder of P1 with Matt & Tommy, called it “an absolute joke” that Briatore has been allowed back into the sport.

He added: “He shouldn’t even be being interviewed on Martin Brundle’s grid walk, nevermind a team principal of a Formula 1 team.”