Briatore: In 2005 we helped bring Formula 1 to Spain.

      Yesterday the documentary Bravissimo premiered on the Spanish channel DAZN; it is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Fernando Alonso’s first championship title, won in 2005 with the Renault team.

      In addition to archival footage from those years, the film is built around a series of interviews with Flavio Briatore, who led the works team of the French automaker, Giancarlo Fisichella, Alonso’s teammate at the time, and, of course, with Fernando himself, thanks to whom Formula 1’s popularity in Spain reached an unprecedented level.

      “He replaced Jenson Button in the team, and many were unhappy that he was too young and inexperienced, but I believed in him,” Briatore says in the film. “I was sure that he was not just a special driver—his talent allowed us to talk about something greater. It was only natural that Fernando became world champion.”

      “2005 was the first year of my career when I came to every Grand Prix and felt real pressure that forced me to give my all for the result,” Alonso recalls. “Before that I treated each race separately and tried to do everything I could, but it was in 2005 that I first felt there was a concrete goal ahead of me, that I was fighting for the title.

      The Renault R25 was a very good car, and that was the main thing. Because of that, solving the tasks was much easier, and there was a good atmosphere in the team.

      The regulations back then were very different from today’s. Refuelling was still carried out, the whole race distance had to be covered on a single set of tyres, and that forced you to invent clever tactical schemes. Every Sunday you could expect a lot of different events, so everything was much more interesting.

      Besides, we were fighting a giant like McLaren. We knew their cars were faster than ours, but they were plagued by reliability problems. I was determined to make the most of any opportunity, because we knew there would be weekends when we would inevitably lose points…

      Time flies very fast, because all the following seasons were a continuation of those glorious years. That is why I still race. And I still enjoy it, just as I did back then, in 2005.”

      “We were not one of the traditional championship teams, like McLaren, Williams or Ferrari. Back then we were still dark horses,” Briatore continued. “There was always loud music playing in our young team’s garage, and I remember once Ron Dennis wanted to turn the sound down, but I asked him to turn it up even more. And people began to take notice of our young team.

      And then the moment came when everyone learned what Fernando Alonso was capable of. Not only because he won the title, but because of how he did it. In 2005 we didn’t just win the world championship—we also helped Spain discover Formula 1.”