Alpine Racing Director Davide Brivio says he has been surprised by the level of radio communication possible in Formula 1 while also recognising similarities between the championship and MotoGP.
Brivio spent two decades working in MotoGP, notably for Yamaha and Suzuki, and oversaw title-winning campaigns with both manufacturers, most recently in 2020, with Suzuki ending its 20-year wait for a premier class championship.
Alpine signed Brivio to the role of Racing Director for 2021 as part of a management structure that also includes CEO Laurent Rossi and Executive Director Marcin Budkowski.
Brivio outlined that he is getting up to speed in his new surroundings in Formula 1 and expressed surprise at how involved teams can be during grands prix.
“You are in contact with the driver consistently, the race engineer is telling him ‘do this, do that, wait a little bit’, this is the biggest difference,” said Brivio on Formula 1 compared to MotoGP.
“And [when] I experienced the first race in Bahrain it went like this: at the beginning [of the race] I would say ‘wow one hour and 45 [minutes], whatever it is, it will be long’, but it went quickly, because you are so busy on listening, checking, analysing, and so it is very interesting.
“[In MotoGP], when the race starts, the rider is by himself, you just sit down and watch TV, that’s all you can do.
“Here [in F1] you are constantly in contact, you’re almost in the car, so you are much more a part of what is going on on the track, I think.”
Brivio nonetheless outlined that while Formula 1’s technical side is much deeper than MotoGP’s there are human parallels between the championships.
“I’m not an engineer but I can really appreciate the technology, and from this point of view it is interesting – this is one reason I decided to join,” he said. “It’s interesting, of course different from where I am before.
“There are similarities. Riders and drivers… they have the same ups and downs, [with] motivation, a good shape, bad shape, complaining, not happy, not feeling, whatever.
“Mechanics here and there [in F1/MotoGP] they need to keep motivated, making them wanting to improve and everything, so there are many similarities.
“The technology [in F1] is more complex – the car is bigger, many more parts, more information, more things you can measure, so as a consequence more things you need to analyse.”
