Cyril François Roger Abiteboul (born 14 October 1977) is a French

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

engineer and manager. He has served as the team principal of

Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai Motorsport GmbH (HMSG; ) is a division of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Company responsible for the brand's global motorsport activities. The company was established in December 2012 and is based in Alzenau, Germany. Their princi ...

since 2023. From 2013 to 2014 he was the team principal of

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge (district), Tandridge district of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valle ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

team, and was the managing director of the Renault F1 Team from 2014 to 2020.

Early and personal life

Abiteboul was educated at the

Lycée Carnot The Lycée Carnot () is a public secondary and higher education school at 145 Boulevard Malesherbes in the 17th arrondissement, Paris, France. The Lycée Carnot was founded in 1869, first bearing the name of École Monge and then renamed in 1 ...

and

Lycée Chaptal The Lycée Chaptal, formerly the Collège Chaptal, is a large secondary school in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, named after Jean-Antoine Chaptal, with about 2,000 pupils. It was taken over by the City of Paris in 1848 after the founder ran into ...

high schools in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and went on to study multidisciplinary engineering at

Grenoble Institute of Technology The Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP) (''Institut polytechnique de Grenoble'' , ''Groupe Grenoble INP'' and before INPG) is a French technological university system consisting of eight engineering and management schools. Grenoble I ...

. Abiteboul has one tattoo, as a result of a lost bet with

Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( , ; born 1 July 1989) is an Australian racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Ricciardo won eight Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Born and raised in Perth to Italian-Australi ...

, where he would get a tattoo if Ricciardo was able to achieve a podium finish, which he did, finishing 3rd in the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix. It is a vintage Renault logo on his right calf with a stylized

honey badger The honey badger (''Mellivora capensis''), also known as the ratel ( or ), is a mammal widely distributed across Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the only living species in both the genus ''Mellivora'' and the subfami ...

, Ricciardo's personal mascot.

Career

After graduating in 2001, Abiteboul joined

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

at Boulogne-Billancourt, looking after the Renault F1 website. He was made Business Development Manager for the

Renault F1 Renault, a French automobile manufacturer, has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine ...

team in 2007 and went on to become executive director of Renault Sport F1 in 2010. He joined

Caterham F1 The Caterham F1 Team was a Malaysian, later British owned Formula One team based in the United Kingdom which raced under a List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, Malaysian licence. The Caterham brand competed in the Formula One Wo ...

Team in September 2012. He had previously worked with team partner

, where he was Deputy Managing Director of Renault Sport F1. On 8 November 2012, Abiteboul was appointed as team principal of Caterham, taking the place of

Tony Fernandes Malay titles#Tan Sri, Tan Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes (born 30 April 1964) is a Malaysian Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sendirian Berhad, Sdn. Bhd., which took over the first Malaysian Low-cost carrier, budge ...

. In July 2014, after Abiteboul's departure from Caterham had been announced, Renault confirmed his return as managing director of Renault Sport F1. He left Renault as the racing team rebranded to Alpine in 2021. In May 2021, Abiteboul joined

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 to 2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name returned aga ...

engine supplier

Mecachrome Mecachrome SAS is a precision engineering company based in France that operates in the aerospace, motor racing, energy and defence sectors. History Mecachrome was founded in 1937 in Colombes, France. As a precision engineering company, Mecachrom ...

as their motorsport advisor. Abiteboul joined

Hyundai World Rally Team The Hyundai World Rally Team is a rally team competing in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as the official Hyundai entrant. Its team principal is Cyril Abiteboul, and its drivers in the 2025 season include Thierry Neuville, Ott Tanak and ...

as team principal in . He was appointed as the president of

at the end of the year.

References

1977 births Living people French automotive engineers French motorsport people Formula One team principals Sportspeople from Paris Renault people French sports agents {{f1-bio-stub