Why Renault's new 'car guy' CEO couldn't pull plug on F1

'Team Enstone' has changed its identity many times down the years. Its latest move to become Alpine from 2021 is the brainchild of new Renault CEO Luca de Meo, who despite the parent company's troubles, sees huge potential in F1's brave new world

Jonathan Noble Sep 8, 2020, 1:34 PM

Upd: Sep 8, 2020, 1:55 PM

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When the coronavirus pandemic wrecked worldwide automotive businesses, the risk of Formula 1 losing manufacturers was extremely high.

With the car industry battling for survival, wide-sweeping cost cuts were essential. And in such a scenario, just as played out in the financial crisis of 2008, 'luxury' activities like having an F1 programme can easily get knocked on the head.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.