Abiteboul's farewell to Renault fits into the restructuring program of the french Formula 1 team, wanted by De Meo, which took place with the arrival in the team of Davide Brivio (head of the Alpine F1 program), hired as racing director, and the internal promotion of Marcin Budkowski, Polish engineer and now Alpine's Executive Technical Director.

"I would like to warmly thank Cyril for his tireless involvement" said the CEO of the Renault group Luca De Meo during a recent interview.

"He brought team from the penultimate place, occupied in the 2016 World Championship to the podium again. His remarkable work in F1, which began in 2007, allows us to look to the future with the awareness of having a strong team and a new Alpine F1 Team identity with which to aim for the podium in the 2021 World Championship".

Budkowski didn't express himself on Abiteboul's departure, but he was confident about the work that the team carried out during the winter break:

“There’s been a number of changes, obviously” - Budkowski said - “It’s not my place to comment on the departure of Cyril. We have a new structure; we’re lucky that with the Alpine project we’re really part of the Renault Group strategy now. That’s a stability going forward that is great for the team; it’s also something that we want to build on for the future".

“So yes there’s been an upheaval, but (also) yes there’s new colors, it’s a new dynamic, there’s new energy in the project and we’re looking forward to it".

He also commented the brand new internal structure of the team by saying:

“We went for a slightly different structure than the conventional team structure but at the end of the day the roles and the responsibilities are clear, we’re just calling them a little bit differently. We’re a French team in the end — we had to put a bit of a French touch in the organization structure as well”.

The new Executive Technical Director showed himself glad to be working with a personality as important as Davide Brivio in the world of motorsport. Brivio led Suzuki to MotoGP glory with Spanish rider Joan Mir last year as they ended a long wait for the championship. 

“In today’s Formula 1, with the complexity of a Formula 1 team, especially one which does chassis and engines, we have a base in the UK, a base in France, there’s 23 races, potentially 25 in the future, COVID restrictions, potential quarantines etc… in these conditions managing a team and going to all races is very, very difficult, so for me personally it’s great to have Davide on board".

“Apart from all the skills he brings from his other motorsport experiences, it means I won’t have to go to all the races. I will probably do the majority of them or start skipping them in the second part of the season" he added.

“We have someone in Davide who has a lot of trackside experience, a lot of soft skills acquired as a team manager in other categories. He knows how to manage drivers, he knows how to motivate them, he knows how to organize a garage; so it’s going to be a great contribution to have him there and we can share the role and really make sure we don’t leave anything without the attention required.

“I think it’s going to be a learning curve for Davide. The complexity of Formula 1 is huge compared to MotoGP, but in the few experiences I’ve had with him so far he looks first of all a very nice chap and someone who knows the job in front of him" Budkowski concluded.