Team Enstone

Notable drivers include World Champions Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, and Kimi Räikkönen.

[3] Due to its frequent changes of corporate identity, The Race said that "it's easiest simply to call it 'Team Enstone'";[4] even the official Formula One website does so on occasion.

As of December 2024, the Formula One website states that Alpine F1 Team entered the sport in 1986 (the year Toleman rebranded to Benetton) and has won two Constructors' Championships and twenty-one races (i.e., the combined records of Enstone-era Renault and Alpine, but not including Benetton, Lotus, or pre-Enstone Renault).

[8] The Enstone team has competed for podiums, wins, and titles in multiple eras, although it has also endured periods of mediocrity.

"[9] Nonetheless, the team continued to employ "a number of 'lifers' who date back to the Benetton days," including Briatore, Symonds, and sporting director Alan Permane,[9] the last of whom stepped down in 2023.

[19] In the 2020s, several ex-Enstone personnel joined the Cadillac Formula One project, although some of them (including Symonds) had already been working for other organisations for several years at that point.

[31][32] The Benetton Group invested heavily in the team, which moved from Witney to a purpose-built facility in Enstone, Oxfordshire, in 1991.

The team's race-winning drivers were Schumacher (19), Nelson Piquet (3), Gerhard Berger (2), Johnny Herbert (2), and Alessandro Nannini (1).

In addition, future World Champion Jenson Button raced for Benetton during its final year before its rebrand to Renault.

[9] However, following the "Crashgate" scandal, Briatore and Symonds were forced to leave the team,[15] and several Renault sponsors cut ties with Enstone.

[39] Revenue fell by forty-nine percent in 2010, with the loss of £41m/year title sponsor ING single-handedly plunging the team into the red.

[47] Räikkönen's salary was not the only problem for Lotus, which posted a combined net loss of £184 million under Genii's ownership.

[12] Adrian Newey (whose Red Bull team acrimoniously stopped purchasing Renault engines in 2018) said that Ghosn personally told him he was not interested in the sport.

[54] Renault rehired Briatore as a special advisor in 2024, with significant influence over personnel and management decisions.