Although Formula One organisations frequently change their names for branding or ownership reasons,[1][2]Autosport called the Enstone team "particularly chameleonic", even by Formula One standards.[3] Due to its frequent changes of corporate identity, The Race said that "it's easiest simply to call it 'Team Enstone'";[4] even the official Formula One website does so on occasion.[5][6][7] Sources differ on whether the current incarnation of Team Enstone can claim its predecessors' history. As of December 2024, the Formula One website states that Alpine F1 Team entered the sport in 1986 (the year Toleman rebranded to Benetton) and has won two Constructors' Championships and twenty-one races (i.e., the combined records of Enstone-era Renault and Alpine, but not including Benetton, Lotus, or pre-Enstone Renault).[8]
The Enstone team has competed for podiums, wins, and titles in multiple eras, although it has also endured periods of mediocrity.[9] From the 1980s to the mid-2000s, Team Enstone was considered one of the "Big Four" Formula One teams, along with Ferrari, McLaren, and Williams, which won every Constructors' Championship from 1984 to 2008.[10][11] However, the team has struggled to reach its old heights since then;[12]Brawn/Mercedes and Red Bull won every Constructor's Championship from 2009 to 2023. As of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix,[13] forty-six drivers have competed for the five different constructors in the lineage in 780 Grands Prix, winning fifty of them.[4][14]
Personnel continuity
Although many designers and drivers have come and gone over the years, the team is best known for its years under the leadership of Flavio Briatore (team principal 1991-1997, 2000-2009; advisor 2024-present)[15] and Pat Symonds (engineer and/or technical director 1979-1990, 1992-2009),[16] during which it won all seven of its Formula One championships.[17]
Following double world champion Michael Schumacher's 1996 move to Ferrari, several senior Enstone personnel, including Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn, joined Schumacher in Maranello, and the Enstone team returned to "mere contender territory."[9] Nonetheless, the team continued to employ "a number of 'lifers' who date back to the Benetton days," including Briatore, Symonds, and sporting director Alan Permane,[9] the last of whom stepped down in 2023.[18] In addition, the team rehired Briatore as an advisor in June 2024.[19]
In the 2020s, several ex-Enstone personnel joined the Cadillac Formula One project, although some of them (including Symonds) had already been working for other organisations for several years at that point.[20][21]
The original constructor in the lineage was Toleman, which competed in other categories of motor racing during the 1970s. Toleman initially operated out of a workshop in Kidlington, but moved to Witney ahead of the 1980 Formula Two season[22] and entered Formula One in 1981.[23] Toleman incorporated in April 1984 as Inremco 60 Ltd, but changed its corporate name to Toleman Group Motorsport Ltd in July 1985. Since 1984, all incarnations of Team Enstone have retained the same corporate registration.[24]
Under team principal Alex Hawkridge, Toleman sought to distinguish itself from other small teams by obtaining a works-team supply of turbocharger engines from Hart.[25] However, the team alienated its tyre supplier Pirelli after abruptly switching to Michelin tyres in 1984.[25] After Michelin pulled out of Formula One, the team smoothed relations with the Italian Pirelli by hiring a new team principal[25] and signing Italian fashion brand United Colors of Benetton as its lead sponsor.[26]
From 1981 to 1985, Toleman entered seventy races and recorded three podiums, all of which were earned by Ayrton Senna.
In 1985, Benetton, Toleman's primary sponsor, bought the team from Hawkridge for £2 million. The fashion label branded itself as anti-establishment and was reportedly attracted to Toleman's outsider image.[25] Due to FOCA rules, the team spent one final year as Toleman,[25] but in January 1986, Benetton Group formally rebranded the team to Benetton Formula Ltd ahead of the 1986 season.[27][28]
The switch from Toleman to Benetton set a long-running precedent: under Formula One rules Toleman and Benetton were two different constructors, but under UK corporate law Benetton was the same organisation as Toleman,[29] and the same key staffers remained at Benetton after the change, including the design team led by Rory Byrne.[30] Toleman wanted to find a buyer who would keep the staff together,[26] and Benetton wanted to see what Byrne could do with a larger budget.[25] Benetton kept Toleman's British licence until 1996, when it switched to an Italian licence.[31][32]
Team Enstone factory in 2015
The Benetton Group invested heavily in the team, which moved from Witney to a purpose-built facility in Enstone, Oxfordshire, in 1991. It remains there today.[4][33][34] The team's factory is called the Whiteways Technical Centre,[35] and is one of several Formula One team bases located in relatively close proximity to the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire.[36]
Benetton's engine supplier, the French car-maker Renault, purchased the outfit in March 2000 for $120 million ($221 million in November 2024 dollars)[37] and renamed it to the Renault F1 Team for the 2002 season.[27][38] Renault invested heavily in the team and recruited new personnel. Led by Fernando Alonso, the team enjoyed a renaissance in the mid-2000s.[9] However, following the "Crashgate" scandal, Briatore and Symonds were forced to leave the team,[15] and several Renault sponsors cut ties with Enstone.[39] Revenue fell by forty-nine percent in 2010, with the loss of £41m/year title sponsor ING single-handedly plunging the team into the red.[40] In addition, Alonso left for Ferrari.[40]
From 2002 to 2011, Renault entered 280 races and won double world championships in 2005 and 2006, with Alonso winning both Drivers' Championships. It also recorded twenty victories and fifty-nine podiums. The team's race-winning drivers were Alonso (17), Giancarlo Fisichella (2), and Jarno Trulli (1).
Genii Capital purchased a seventy-five percent controlling stake in the team ahead of the 2010 season,[41] and bought out the remaining twenty-five percent for €5 million at the end of the year.[42] The team retained the Renault name for the 2011 season,[43] but starting in the 2012 season, Genii's primary sponsor, Lotus Cars,[44][45] signed a deal to rename the team to Lotus F1. The team had no corporate connection to the old Team Lotus. To honor its hometown, the team's chassis designations all contained an "E" for "Enstone".[44][46]
Led by Kimi Räikkönen, the team was initially quite competitive, exceeding its own expectations. The team gave Räikkönen a contract that awarded a €50,000 bonus for every World Championship point (i.e., €19.5 million over two years), which was said to have nearly bankrupted the team.[47] Räikkönen's salary was not the only problem for Lotus, which posted a combined net loss of £184 million under Genii's ownership.[48] The team laid off ninety-three staffers in 2015.[48]
From 2012 to 2015, Lotus entered seventy-seven races and recorded two victories (both by Räikkönen) and twenty-five podiums (all by Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean).
At the end of the 2015 season, Renault repurchased a 90% stake in Team Enstone from Genii for £1.[48] It bought Genii's remaining shares in 2022,[49] but at the end of the 2023 season, it sold a 24% stake to a syndicate of outside investors led by Alec Scheiner for €200 million, which valued the whole team at roughly $900 million.[50] The Renault team name returned for the 2016 season.[51] Starting with the 2021 season, Renault renamed the team to the Alpine F1 Team, after their subsidiary marque Automobiles Alpine.[52]
During Carlos Ghosn's tenure at Renault, the team was dogged by accusations that the parent company was unwilling to invest enough money in the team to be title contenders.[12] The team went through several senior management changes in the 2020s.[53] Renault rehired Briatore as a special advisor in 2024, with significant influence over personnel and management decisions.[54][55] In Briatore's first year, Enstone's workforce declined by twenty-five percent.[56] In addition, the team stopped sourcing engines from Renault's in-house facility and secured a customer engine supply from Mercedes, a decision made before Briatore's arrival.[57][58]
From 2016 to 2020, as Renault, the team entered 200 races and recorded three podiums (by Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon). As of the 2024 season, Alpine has won one race (by Ocon) and recorded six podiums (by Ocon, Fernando Alonso, and Pierre Gasly).
/Renault — French car manufacturer Renault's Formula One operation was based out of Enstone for two stints, the first lasting from the 2002 season to the 2011 season, and the second from the 2016 season to the 2020 season. The team held a French licence throughout both periods except for the 2011 season when they competed under a British licence.[a]
Alpine — a constructor named after Renault's subsidiary brand Automobiles Alpine has been operated by the Enstone organisation since the 2021 season with a French licence.
