Alonso the 'Godfather of everybody' at Alpine

Renault CEO Luca de Meo is banking on Fernando Alonso's experience and character to help Alpine grow in F1, insisting the Spaniard is now the "Godfather of everybody" at the French team.

Alonso has returned to F1 after a two-year hiatus and the 39-year-old's port of call for resuming his career at the highest level is the very team with which he won his two world titles in the sport in 2005 and 2006.

Although it has changed its name from Renault to Alpine, the Enstone squad still includes a few of the team members that worked with Alonso 15 years ago.

However, while the 32-time Grand Prix winner still ambitions to stand on the highest step of the podium in F1, his role as a senior and acclaimed figure now encompasses helping Alpine develop and advance.

"Renault is Fernando’s home, but I want him to use his experience to help us all grow," de Meo told Top Gear. "He has a different role to the one from 15 years ago. He’s the Godfather of everybody.

"The only thing I’m asking him is to help us become a top team, because it’s about attitude and mindset. And he has it."

Alpine failed to put a single point on the board in Bahrain, where Alonso and teammate Esteban Ocon's efforts were undermined by unlucky circumstances.

De Meo is determined to see Alpine fight at the front of F1's mid-field this season, even though the French outfit has set its sights on 2022 and Grand Prix racing's big regulations overhaul.

• Read also: Alpine won't allow 'dangerous games' between Alonso and Ocon

"I’m not a magician, I don’t have a crystal ball," said the Renault chief executive. "My expectation is that we get better and better every race.

"The real challenge will start in 2022, which doesn’t mean we want to have a poor season in 2021.

"We have Fernando, who wants to win all the time, and Esteban is young and doesn’t want to waste his time being stuck at the back of the grid. We need to give the drivers good service as a team.

"Alonso? Well we know he’s not a rookie. The feedback I had [from the test in Bahrain] was that it took him about 10 laps to get to the limit of the car and start saying, ‘this or that doesn’t work’. He gets it immediately.

"Our focus is to actually give him a car where he can have fun. And then you never know what happens in a Grand Prix, right?

"Maybe we need to be a little bit lucky, but we’ll be doing everything we can for him and for Esteban."

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