Pierre Gasly called on his Alpine F1 team to “stay together” following another prominent departure.
During the Canadian Grand Prix, Renault Group, which owns the Alpine Formula 1 team, announced the departure of Chairman Lucade Meo.
De Meo has been CEO of Renault Group since 2020 and has overseen the transformation of the Formula 1 team into Alpine.
He played a key role in signing Fernando Alonso, and under his stewardship, the Enstone-based outfit returned to victory with Esteban Ocon.
However, Alpine has been unable to fill the gap to the top four teams and is back in the middle.
The role of Team Principal was poisoned Chalice. Cyril Abitebour, Masinbadkowski, Otmarschnafauer, Brunofamin and Ollioaks have all played roles at some point in the past five years.
Alpine’s poor form has led to a surprising return to Flavio Blythor as executive advisor.
After a race in Canada, Guthrie responded to the news of de Meo’s resignation.
“First of all, I think I need to have all the information,” Guthrie said. “I have a very good relationship with Luka. He took me on the team. I think he’s a very inspiring person. Obviously, the first reaction is that it’s so sad to see him leave.
“I’m sure he has some good reasons. Finally, for us as a team, not everything is big at the moment, but there’s still a lot of positive things going on in the factory, and for me it’s important to keep that momentum at ’26.
Guthrie admitted he needs to talk to senior management at the company to discuss the impact on Formula One teams.
The 2020 Italian Grand Prix winner sought Alpine to continue to unite despite another high-profile departure.
“Yes, you need to sit with the management and understand a little more about what that means to the team,” Guthrie added.
“But at the end of the day, we all have jobs. We all have our roles. We all need to focus on what we have to do and do our best to do that. But certainly I need to sit with everyone.
“It’s completely normal. It’s completely human to feel that. And I think it’s important for us all to stick together as a team and stick together in these types of moments. And you just depend on each other and trust in the long game.”