MONZA, Italy -- Renault’s Formula One team principal, Cyril Abiteboul, said his role at the team would remain unchanged despite taking on a new task with the French automaker's Alpine sports-car brand.
Renault, under new CEO Luca de Meo, has announced a new organizational structure focused on core brands rather than geographical regions, with Abiteboul overseeing the Alpine division.
"Right now what I have been asked to do is a mission, with a set of proposals, in order to structure a brand," Abiteboul told reporters in a video conference at the Italian Grand Prix on Friday.
"I’ve not been asked to run the brand. So, it is not in any way a permanent appointment whatsoever," he said. "That's what I will be focusing some of the spare time that I have, given what I am doing for Formula One. There is no question of a change of team leadership for the time that I do this mission."
The other divisions at Renault will be the namesake brand, budget brand Dacia and new mobility.
Abiteboul would not be drawn on whether the team might be renamed eventually to incorporate the high-end Alpine brand as part of a marketing strategy.
"These are corporate strategy questions for the CEO," he said.
"My two cents is that with the new Concorde [commercial] Agreement we have finally the possibility to have a stable platform in Formula One, a great marketing platform," he said.
"Again, the way we want to make use of that platform will be up to the CEO," he added. "We have a flexible platform, we have different brands, probably rationalization will be one of the things we will need to do given the group financial results."
All the F1 teams have signed the new Concorde Agreement with rights holders Liberty Media and the governing FIA committing them to the next five years and new rules designed to make a more level playing field.
