The Alpine F1 team has restructured its management – Davide Brivio remains on board there – Suzuki doesn’t have many options in its search for a team principal
The 2022 MotoGP season starts in a few weeks and at Suzuki one important personnel matter remains open. For months, project manager Shinichi Sahara has been looking for a new team boss. Davide Brivio will not be returning for the time being.
After the 2020 World Championship title, Brivio took leave to join the Alpine team in Formula 1. There was some restructuring in the management there over the winter. Last season, Marcin Budkowski and Brivio shared the duties of team manager.
Budkowski is now no longer part of the Alpine team. The new team boss is Otmar Szafnauer. Brivio remains on board, but will in future be more concerned with the junior programme. Among others, Jack Doohan, the son of Mick Doohan, is now part of the Alpine development programme.
Suzuki is said to have waited until the very end to see if the possibility of bringing Brivio back might arise. At the 2021 season finale in Valencia, Sahara stated that they would like to present a new team manager “by the end of the year”. That didn’t happen.
Now Sahara has said at the winter tests in February: “I haven’t changed my mind. It’s just taking longer than we thought. We are still talking to several candidates, but we haven’t finalised a contract yet. “
The problem is that there are few alternatives. In recent months, the name of Livio Suppo has been mentioned again and again. The Italian was at Ducati in 2007 when Casey Stoner became world champion. Later he was team boss at Honda and celebrated further world championship titles.
Whoever becomes the new team boss, the decision will be made very late with a view to the new season. If someone comes from outside, he would first have to get to know the team. And at Suzuki, the harmony between all the people is very good and a building block for success.
In addition, the contracts of Joan Mir and Alex Rins expire at the end of the season. Suzuki wants to keep both riders. The new team boss would also have to sign the new contracts with both of them. Mutual human trust is also very important in this respect.
“It’s very important that someone takes on this role,” Rins said on the sidelines of the winter tests. “But not only that, it’s also important to have a good relationship with him. My relationship with Davide was excellent. “
