Davide Brivio admits it was “not easy” to leave Suzuki’s MotoGP team to become Alpi🌳ne’s new racing director, but says he would hav𒉰e regretted passing up the “dream” opportunity to work in Formula 1.

After leading Suzuki to its first MotoGP title since 2000 last year as Joan Mir clinched the riders’ crownဣ, Brivio has traded two wheels for four by joining the rebranded Alpine squad as its new racing director amid an organisational rꩵestructuring within the team ahead of the upcoming 2021 F1 season.

Speaking at Alpine’s launch of its new A521 car, the Italian explained the thinking behind his decision to quit MotoGP for F1, saying he did not feel it was an opportunity he could pa𒐪ss up.

“Of course it was not easy to leave my old team, an environment that I knew v🃏ery well,” Brivio said.

“Formula 1 has been for me a dream f𒁏or a long time and it’s very exciting for me to start something completely new, to get into🐈 a new environment.

“Of course I have a lot 💙to learn, a lot to understand but it’s adrenaline for me, it’s oxygen to get to woꦦrk and to learn a lot of things. It was an opportunity which I felt I had to take, probably I would have regretted if I didn’t take.

"So now here I am and I will try to do my be😼st. I hope I can contribute to the Alpine F1 Team with my experi⭕ence. It won’t be easy and I need some time, but I am fully committed to get involved as best as I can as soon as possible.” 

Brivio will effectively split the traditional F1 team principal role with executive director Marcin Budkowski f꧒ollowing the departure of former Renault F1 boss 🌠Cyril Abiteboul.

“I will be in charge of𒐪 the track operatio🐷ns, track activity so everything that happens on the circuit,” he explained. “Basically our job as a race team is to exploit the full potential of the car.

“It’s a big pressure and a big responsibility because we have over 1000 people between Enstone and Viry, preparing the🌟 chassis, the car and the power unit, and our job - we will be a much limited number of people at the race track - but there is where we have to extract the full potential of the car. So I will be in charge of that.

“Of course I’m not an engineer but I have to make sure that the engineers, the drivers, all the people involved, they have all they need to perform at the very best. In this way, if we are abl💃e to have a strong team - which is already in place - we will be able to extract the full potential of the car.

“So that is the job, to go to the circuit, to go around the world, and try to get♛ out the best of what the guys have prepared at home. So we have big responsibility and big pressure becau♛se we have to give a value to their job.”

Asked whether𓄧 he feels it is harder transitioning from MotoGP to F1 or vice-versa, Brivio replied: “I don’t know, I will tell you in maybe one years time!

“In this moment I think it’s probably harder for MotoGP to go to Formula 1. Because F1 is a bigger organisation, it’s mor🦄e complex, and ꦺmany more people.

"I think it’s a little more complex, so that is good news for meꦐ (laughs). But let๊’s see. I feel a lot of similarities with teamwork, drivers that are similar in attitude and willing as the riders. It’s much more complex in terms of technicality so many more parameters and more problems, aerodynamics.

“This is a more technical job. In terms of putting the team together, trying to strengthen the group I think there 🍃are similarities. There is no doubt that Formula 1♑ is more complex than MotoGP, but they both have similarities I think.”