In the wild, wonderful and unpredictable world of Formula 1 racing, Alpine stand alone as the undisputed leaders in chaos.
Owned by French giant Renault, which builds its engines in Paris but the cars in the tiny English village of Enstone, Alpine enters this Sunday's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in shambles.
The team sits ninth out of 10 teams in F1's constructors' championship, a far cry from where its resources suggest it should be.
Alpine has a new driver line-up without Australian Jack Doohan. It is also without a team principal, delegating that duty to a maverick of the past who was once banned from F1.
To get to this point, Alpine has gone through several chaotic and turbulent years.
But F1 is about to go through its own upheaval with regulation changes, potentially opening the door for Alpine to rise and thrive.
Alpine's driver chaos continues with Jack Doohan's demotion
Doohan entered this season as a full-time Alpine driver, but his position seemed to be under threat from the start.
He made an unceremonious debut in the final race of last season when Alpine made a deal with rivals Haas to release Esteban Ocon — the only driver to achieve a grand prix win since Renault/Alpine returned as a works team in 2016.
The Queensland-born son of a five-time motorcycle world champion was put on notice during the off-season when Alpine signed Argentine Franco Colapinto as its reserve driver.
Colapinto had a nine-weekend stint with Williams in 2024, where he impressively achieved two points finishes.
This season had been riddled by struggles for Doohan, despite showing glimpses of pace, including in Miami when he qualified faster than his more experienced teammate Pierre Gasly.
But the team announced Colapinto would be in the cockpit for the next five weekends as part of a new rotation strategy.
New de facto team leader Flavio Briatore framed the unique driver rotation as a plan for the future.
"With the field being so closely matched this year, and with a competitive car, which the team has drastically improved in the past 12 months, we are in a position where we see the need to rotate our line-up," Briatore said.
"We also know the 2026 season will be an important one for the team and having a complete and fair assessment of the drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to maximise our ambitions next year.
It was another driver drama — something Alpine has become accustomed to.
Fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo left the team at the end of 2020, despite the team achieving three podium finishes that season.
Spanish great Fernando Alonso, who won both his world titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006 (Renault's first stint owning the Enstone-based team), left at the end of 2022, dissatisfied with the operation.
Alpine then announced reserve driver Oscar Piastri would replace Alonso, only for the Australian to refute that claim two hours later.
Alpine had never signed Piastri to the deal and the Australian moved to McLaren, where he enters this weekend as the drivers' championship leader.
Oakes becomes latest team principal to leave
While Alpine has struggled to find stability in the car, its team principal role has been even more volatile.
Since Cyril Abiteboul left the team at the end of 2020, Davide Brivio, Marcin Budowski, Otmar Szafnauer and Bruno Famin have all had stints in the position.
Oliver Oakes took over the role following a slew of management changes midway through 2024, which included former boss Briatore returning to the Renault group as an adviser.
Oakes guided the team until the Miami Grand Prix a fortnight ago, before sensationally resigning.
The statement released by Alpine was brief and to the point.
The team has accepted his resignation with immediate effect.
As of today, Flavio Briatore will continue as Executive Advisor and will also be covering the duties previously performed by Oliver Oakes.
The team would like to thank Oliver for his efforts since he joined last summer and for his contribution in helping the team secure sixth place in the 2024 Constructors' Championship.
Media reports from the UK revealed the resignation came days after Oakes's brother, William, was arrested and charged with "transferring criminal property".
William was a director of the British-based racing team Hitech Grand Prix, which Oliver founded in 2015.
Oliver has not been linked with his brother's arrest or any wrongdoing, and his resignation has not been linked with the arrest either.
With the responsibilities of the team principal needing to be filled, Renault has turned to Briatore — sort of.
As reported by the BBC, Briatore will not be the official team principal in the eyes of the governing FIA because he is not a member of Alpine staff and does not hold an F1 licence.
Who is Briatore and what success has he had in F1?
For F1's new generation of fans, Briatore's appointment as de facto team principal of Alpine may not register as a major talking point.
But for those who have watched this series for decades, Briatore's return as a team principal, let alone as the leader of the Enstone-based team, is scarcely believable.
It is a scenario that seemed as unlikely as Leicester City winning the English Premier League, Steven Bradbury winning an Olympic gold medal, or Jamaica having a bobsled team.
Briatore — a man who once lived as a fugitive, who fell into F1 because of his role with clothing company Benetton, achieved world championships during two stints with the F1 team based in Enstone, and was banned from F1 for life — will lead Alpine in the near future.
Briatore's entry into F1 was as unexpected as his return is now.
The Italian was convicted by an Italian court in the 1980s on fraud charges and sentenced to prison, which he avoided by living as a fugitive in the Virgin Islands. He was later granted amnesty.
He was instrumental in expanding the global fashion brand United Colors of Benetton in the United States during the 1980s.
Benetton bought the Toleman F1 team in 1985, and Briatore was brought in as a commercial director at the end of the decade, before then being promoted to lead the team.
Under Briatore, Benetton acquired the services of Michael Schumacher, who went on to win the 1994 and 1995 F1 drivers' championships. Benetton also won the 1995 constructors' championships.
Briatore left the team based in Enstone, but was brought back in 2000 by the new owners, Renault.
Renault then marched to the front of the F1 grid, with rising star Alonso winning the drivers' championships in 2005 and 2006, and Renault claiming constructors' honours in those years as well.
Three years later, Briatore would be out of F1 following one of the more serious scandals in the sport — Crashgate.
What is Crashgate?
Briatore was banned for life following an investigation into the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
By this time, with Ferrari and McLaren at the front of the grid, Renault was no longer a championship threat.
But the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix gave Renault a chance to claim victory.
Alonso started 15th on the grid and pitted early for new tyres.
Renault believed a safety car would bring all the other drivers into the pits and allow Alonso to surge forward and take the lead.
Alonso's teammate Nelson Piquet Jr went into the wall, the safety car was deployed, and Alonso took the lead and went on to win.
In 2009, Piquet Jr said Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds instructed him to deliberately crash.
The Renault team admitted that Piquet Jr was instructed to crash, leading to Briatore being banned from all FIA-sanctioned events for life, and Symonds for five years.
Briatore initially denied his involvement but ultimately accepted responsibility as team leader.
He maintained he was not personally involved in the incident.
The life ban for Briatore was lifted in 2024, with the Renault group immediately bringing the Italian back as an adviser.
Alpine has made a Hail Mary play, so what now?
This Sunday is the first race of Alpine's future.
Briatore is the joker in the deck, even as a de facto leader.
Twice he has been charged with leading a team to the top of F1, and twice he has succeeded.
It is easy to assume the sport has evolved and left the Italian behind, but Briatore built champions in two distinctly different eras of F1.
So why can't he do it again? On face value, it looks like a Hail Mary play from a team out of ideas.
Alpine starts at the foot of the mountain, trying to find the best path to the top.
With a rotating driver line-up involving two young drivers fighting over one seat, Briatore and the team are going to find out who has the ability to handle an unstable situation.
The situation becomes murkier at the end of the year when Renault officially drops out as an engine supplier.
After years of being well behind Ferrari, Mercedes and Honda-Red Bull in building engines, Renault has decided to buy someone else's engine.
From next year, Alpine will use Mercedes power.
Over the past two years, McLaren has proven you can be a force in F1 without building your engine. McLaren also uses Mercedes power.
The engine change coincides with an overhaul of F1's rules and regulations.
Regulation overhauls have a way of jumbling up the grid as every team essentially has to start afresh with new cars, new designs and new ideas.
Any team that can grasp the new regulations better than the competition will have an enormous advantage.
Mercedes in 2014 and Red Bull in 2022 are the most recent examples of teams that understood the new playing field best and dominated the competition.
Renault will be hoping that Alpine, under the leadership of Briatore, can be a team that nails the new regulations from day one.
In 2025, teams are balancing how much time and effort goes into this year's challenger with the next.
Alpine may choose to turn its focus to 2026, especially with its new powertrain supplier.
Alpine's future will be one of motorsport's most compelling stories over the next 12 months as fans wait to see if Renault's gamble on Briatore can lead them to the front of the grid again.
