82. Davide Brivio

Davide Brivio signed with Alpine F1 Team in January 2021 as Racing Director reporting to Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi.

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Davide previously held senior roles in MotoGP, most recently guiding Suzuki to the world championship title double with rider Joan Mir winning the riders’ championship and the team winning the manufacturers’ crown.

The Italian grew up near Monza, Italy, and developed a passion for motorsport beginning by racing motocross at his local track. By 1990, Davide Brivio started a career in motorsport as a press officer in World Superbikes and in 1992, he became team manager of the Belgarda Yamaha Racing Division in the series.

He moved to the factory Yamaha team in 1993, becoming team manager in 1995. Davide stepped up to the Yamaha MotoGP team in 2002, a move that would bring an era of success for the team between 2004 and 2010 with four riders’ championship wins and four manufacturers’ championship titles. During that time, Davide was pivotal in signing MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi to the team – leading the Italian to four world championships. He continued to work with Valentino until 2013 as a consultant.

Ahead of Suzuki’s return to MotoGP in 2015, Davide Brivio became team manager tasked with bringing forward talented, young riders, alongside the team’s climb to be amongst the frontrunners in the sport. By 2020, Suzuki claimed the team’s championship with two wins and 11 podiums with Mir winning the riders’ title.

Davide Brivio Q&A

How have you settled into your new role at the Alpine F1 Team?

It’s a new role and everything is very interesting. I’ve been virtually meeting new people and trying to understand as much as possible how the team operates within the Formula 1 environment. There are some aspects that are in common with my previous experiences in motorsport, whereas there are other aspects that are completely new. The team is operating at a very high level and I’m happy to see how everything is organised. I enter this new environment looking to see how I can contribute.

What are your main job responsibilities?

As Racing Director, I’m in charge of all the track operations. I’ll be dealing with everything concerning the trackside team and, of course, working with both race drivers. Our target is to use the full potential of the car, which, of course, is developed and prepared at the factories at Enstone and Viry. Once we are at the track, we have to extract the maximum level with what we have. My job is to be responsible for that and coordinate everything as best as possible. The team has been doing a great job in recent years. We want to see how we continue that while being more competitive and optimising the operations. There are areas we can improve to maximise the performance of the car. It’s a big responsibility knowing there are more than 1,000 people at the factory developing the cars, which is then down to 60 people at the track who have the pressure and responsibility to deliver. I think that is very exciting, though.

How much are you looking forward to the new challenge; switching from two-wheel motorsport to four?

It’s an interesting challenge, but one that I’m looking forward to starting. The big difference I have seen is the design and development of the car, which, of course, is much more complex in Formula 1 than MotoGP. In simple terms, it’s a lot more pieces! What I have also noticed is that the approach is focused on winning. Of course, it’s the same in MotoGP, but in Formula 1, everybody is in a rush to win and everything is with a ‘quick as possible, best as possible’ mentality. To compare, in MotoGP it’s a little slower where you try and improve to gain performance within a certain timeframe. In Formula 1, it’s about cutting the timeframe to make everything quicker and quicker. It’s a fascinating process to learn to see how everything is developed and managed.

I have followed Formula 1 for a long time. I watched the races on TV when I was free, and I used to visit the Formula 1 paddock once or twice a year. I used to look at Formula 1 for inspiration to take ideas, which I thought would be good for MotoGP, so I’ve always been used to looking at it from that perspective. To now be involved in it means I’m going to learn much more and see closely how everything operates. I do think there is a lot of crossovers. Formula 1 and MotoGP are both teams led sports with similar dynamics in terms of a group of people interacting and creating a working environment together. Drivers and riders will have similar problems and ways of fixing them while keeping together a good, group spirit.

What are your thoughts on the team’s 2021 driver line-up?

It’s a great combination. Fernando is a world champion and one of the biggest talents in Formula 1 who will bring his experience and skill to the team. He has been away for a couple of years to have another experience but now, he wants to come back to Formula 1, which shows his strong desire to achieve something here and have good results. He could have had a golden career in other series, but he wanted to get back to the most competitive environment and compete against some of the new talents coming up. Esteban is an interesting driver as well and he’s amongst the young generation. Last year he improved a lot by the end of the season. He reached a good level, which means he can look positively at this season continuing with the same team and a similar car. I’m looking forward to seeing them pushing each other. The best combination you get is when the two drivers push each other, so I hope we can have this type of situation both from a sport and a performance point of view.