Renault has announced Cyril Abiteboul has left his role as Formula One team boss with immediate effect.
Abiteboul, 43, has been part of the Renault group for two decades having joined the company in 2001.
The Frenchman led the team in the role of Team Principal and has been solely in charge of the F1 side of operations since 2017.
Abiteboul said: “I would like to thank the Groupe Renault for having trusted me for many years, particularly with the relaunch and reconstruction of the team since 2016.”
Before adding: “The solid foundations of the racing team and the entities in France and England built over these years, the strategic evolution of the sport towards a more economically sustainable model, and more recently the Alpine project which provides a renewed sense of meaning and dynamism, all point to a very fine trajectory.”
The announcement comes just two months before the start of the new season, with pre-season testing starting even earlier in mid-February.
Abiteboul’s departure causes further disruption ahead of an already crucial time for the team, with Renault rebranding and heading into a new era named as Alpine for this season and beyond.
The news comes after £25m-a-season man Daniel Ricciardo left to join rivals McLaren, with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso returning for his third stint at the team to replace him.
Luca de Meo – who only took over as group CEO of Renault last year – along with others at corporate level decided it was the right time for the change, continuing the shake-up alongside the Alpine rebrand.
He said: “I would like to warmly thank Cyril for his tireless involvement, which notably led the Renault F1 Team from the penultimate place in 2016 to the podiums last season.”
“His remarkable work in F1 since 2007 allows us to look to the future, with a strong team and the new Alpine F1 Team identity to conquer the podiums this year.”
Laurent Rossi now comes in to replace Abiteboul and has been handed the role of Alpine CEO, which includes running the F1 team despite not having any previous direct industry experience.
Rossi has however had a nine-year spell with Renault from 2000-2009, before leaving the company to work at companies such as Google, before returning in 2018.
Ultimately over ambitious goals, targets and statements may have cost Abiteboul his job.
Upon their return to F1 in 2016, Renault stated that they wanted to be achieving podiums after three years and contending for world championships in five.
After jumping up from sixth to a fourth place finish in the constructor’s championship under the Frenchman in 2018, he claimed all they needed was a top driver to deliver them back to the top.
However, the arrival of that driver in Ricciardo could only lead the team to two disappointing fifth placed finishes in the constructor’s in 2019 and 2020 with the team failing to push on.
By George Venn
