Flavio Briatore reveals F1 decision that ‘unleashed the fury of the British press’

Flavio Briatore has named the decision he made to “unleash the fury” of the media in Britain.

The Formula 1 mogul has never been far away from contentious decision-making during his decades in the sport.

From his involvement in the Crashgate scandal to his recent arrival at Alpine, Briatore’s reputation for ruthless calls is well earned.

Briatore was asked by Italian newspaper Corriere to name the mistake which taught him the most.

“Mistakes are inevitable,” he responded.

“If you’re doing things, you’re going to make them. The key is to quickly adjust your course as soon as you realise it, without letting your pride keep you stuck on the wrong track.”

He was asked if that philosophy explained his decision to remove Jack Doohan from the Alpine and throw in Franco Colapinto.

“Exactly. That’s a good example,” Briatore answered.

“Even in the past, I decided to put a very young Fernando Alonso in the driver’s seat — back then he was just a test driver — instead of the more experienced Jenson Button.

“That decision unleashed the fury of the British press. But in the end, I was right.

“A manager is always alone when making big decisions. Then, over time, others come around.”

Flavio Briatore and Jenson Button clashed after parting ways

The highly promising Button was ditched from Renault in 2003, after his first three seasons in F1.

That decision gave a chance to the young and unproven Alonso whose only time in F1 so far was a forgettable start with Minardi.

Briatore held a longstanding relationship with Alonso will he surely leaned on when deciding to replace Button.

But the decision did work out. Two years later, Alonso won back-to-back F1 drivers’ titles with Renault.

They remain his only two F1 championships to this day.

It took Button a bit longer to find success. After a period with Honda, he switched to Brawn which immediately paid dividends.

Button won the 2009 drivers’ title with Brawn, the sole F1 title of his career. But he clashed with Briatore again during his title-winning year.

Briatore compared Button to a concrete post and suggested that Brawn’s pace only came from a controversial (but legal) rear diffuser.

"He is obviously a very angry man ­after the diffuser issues and he is obviously very disappointed that they haven't produced a car that is as competitive as ours," said Button at the time.

"We have produced a very competitive car because of the work force we have back at Brackley and you cannot take it away from them – it is very unfair to say that.

"They have worked very, very hard in very difficult circumstances and it's very unfair for Flavio to comment as he has, just because he is a little bit bitter. He should also not forget he tried to employ me for this season."