Oliver Oakes resigns as head of Alpine F1 and Briatore takes its place

The Alpine Formula 1 team announced on Tuesday the resignation of Oliver Oakes as director of the team with immediate effect.

“BWT ALPINE FORMULA ONE TEAM announces that Oliver Oakes has resigned from his position as team director. The team has accepted its resignation with an immediate effect,” the Estone Escudería began and his statement.

“As of today, Flavio Briatore will continue as an executive advisor and will also cover the functions that Oliver Oakes previously performed. The team wants to thank Oliver to his efforts since he joined last summer and his contribution to help the team to ensure the sixth place in the 2024 Construction championship. The team will not make more comments,” he concluded.

Oakes, 37, had arrived in Alpine in July last year to take the place of Bruno Famin after enjoying great success with his own Hitech team in the categories prior to F1. The British then formed a board of directors with Flavio Briatore, who had joined in June as Alpine executive advisor.

After a very difficult start to the season in 2024, Alpine took a performance in the second half of last year once Briatore and Oakes went on to lead the fate of the team, which helped obtain the sixth place in the Construction Championship.

This year, however, Alpine is in the penultimate position in the championship with seven points, six of which came as a result of the seventh place obtained by Pierre Gasly in the Bahréin GP, ​​the only weekend where the team could lead the middle zone of the grill. The remaining was also obtained by French thanks to a series of sanctions in the Sprint race last Saturday in Miami.

Oakes’s departure occurs in the midst of what is expected to be a change of pilots in the Alpine team for the next Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna, with the imminent departure of Jack Doohan to be replaced by Franco Colapinto from the Icola round.

It has long been understood that Okes was in favor of giving more time to the Australian pilot as a titular pilot of Alpine, despite his lack of results so far in the 2025 season of Formula 1, while Briatre pressed to incorporate Colapinto after the nine -run of the Argentine driver with Williams last year and now he is determined to place it as a gas fellow.

Oakes planned to serve the media last Sunday after the Miami Grand Prix -where Doohan left after hitting Liam Lawson in the first curve and Gasly arrived 13th after leaving from the Pitlane -but the match was canceled “due to a change in travel plans,” the team reported then.

On Thursday, in the previous Miami Grand Prix, Oakes was asked at the Official Press Conference of Team Chiefs for the possibility that Colapinto replaces Doohan from Icola, after a television comment by Horacio Marín, CEO of the state oil company YPF.

“Yes, I saw it, like everyone else. I think it was a sponsor from Argentina, out of the camera, giving its opinion about Franco, when he will be in the car. I mean, obviously, I am sure there are many people in Argentina who would like him to be in the car this Sunday,” he began.

“I think we have been quite open as a team that, you know, that is only noise out there. And Jack has to continue doing a good job. But I think, obviously, it is natural that there are always speculation.”

When asked directly if he could confirm Doohan as a driver of the Alpine team for the Icola round, Oakes did not provide a blunt response that the Australian will be in the car by then.

“Yes, as things are today, Jack is our pilot, along with Pierre. I think we have been quite clear about it. I mean, we always evaluate it. But yes, today it is the case.”

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