According to a management reorganization announced by Renault Group, Philippe Krief will take over as Alpine CEO from Laurent Rossi.
The vice president of engineering and product performance for the French firm, Philippe Krief, has taken over as Alpine CEO in place of Laurent Rossi.
Krief has extensive knowledge in the motorsports industry from his time working for companies like Michelin and the Fiat Group. Rossi will now concentrate on “special projects” within the Renault group while Krief, who only joined Alpine last March, will assume Rossi’s duties as the brand’s CEO.
Graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées, Krief previously worked for Maserati as the Vehicle Department Director and for Alfa Romeo as the Technical Director before joining Ferrari as the Director of Engineering.
Before joining Alpine this year as its VP of Engineering and Product Performance in February, he was promoted to the position of Director of Engineering at Ferrari in 2016.
“I would like to thank Laurent for his unwavering commitment over the last two years at the helm of Alpine,” said Luca de Meo, Renault Group CEO. “Laurent has set out a clear and ambitious strategy for the brand.
“He has put Alpine in the best possible position to achieve its long-term goals. Alpine is now ready to enter a new phase of its development and to become a brand of the future.
“Philippe combines a long industry experience, great technical knowledge with the leadership qualities that are key to the success of our project, including the launch of the brand’s new vehicles starting next year.
“I fully trust Philippe and his team to take Alpine to new heights.”
The most recent managerial moves at Alpine come after Bruno Famin was recently elevated to Vice President of Alpine Motorsports, where he will also be in charge of the company’s Formula 1 team. The head of the Alpine F1 team will now answer to Famin.
Esteban Ocon’s unexpected victory in the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix is part of Alpine’s successful track record in F1 under Rossi’s direction.
Since then, though, the team has only achieved two more podium finishes, one in Qatar in 2021 with Fernando Alonso and the other in Monaco this year with Esteban Ocon.
Alpine’s goal for this season was to place fourth in the Constructors’ standings while moving up the grid, but so far it has fallen short of that goal. The club is presently ranked sixth in the overall standings.
Rossi’s reign was further defined by the controversy surrounding young driver Oscar Piastri, who was thought to be under a long-term contract with Alpine last year. To Alpine’s dismay, the contract’s details granted McLaren to secure the Australian.
In May, Rossi made news by publicly criticizing Alpine for its poor performance and calling out the team’s “poor execution” and “amateurish” approach.
