Oliver Oakes has been named as Alpine’s new team principal as the revolving managerial door at the Enstone-and-Viry-based outfit is halted once again.
He becomes the third person to occupy the role since the start of last season, following Otmar Szafnauer and Bruno Famin – the latter stepping down less than a year after making his interim tenure permanent.
The team principal position is far from the only one to have seen change in the past three years, with the top brass at Alpine seemingly chopping and changing on a yearly basis.
But that has changed since the arrival of former boss Flavio Briatore in an advisory role, though his presence in the press release announcing Oakes’ appointment suggests he is far more integrated than perhaps would be expected.
So with Oakes at the helm and Mercedes engines expected to take over from in-house Renault in the coming years, who is the man tasked with turning things around?
A Red Bull Junior Team protege
Oakes has been surrounded by racing since an early age, given his father’s links to the sport. Billy Oakes was the founder and owner of former Formula Renault and British F3 outfit Eurotek Motorsport.
By the age of 12, Oakes was a two-time British Open karting champion, and at 17, he became karting world champion, beating off the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Jules Bianchi and Edoardo Mortara. That led to him being picked up by Red Bull’s illustrious young driver programme.
At the time, Oakes would have been with Red Bull alongside former F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, as well as WEC champions Brendon Hartley and Sebastien Buemi.
A move to Formula BMW followed, where Oakes took pole and the victory in his first race and finishing sixth at the end of the season would earn a nomination for what was then the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award [now the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award].
Oliver Oakes
Photo by: GP3 Series Media Service
But whilst moves to British F3 and GP3 came, his racing career never flourished quite how it threatened and he stepped away from the cockpit to take up what has to date been a successful managerial career.
Leading Hitech Grand Prix
Oakes’ tenure at the helm of Hitech is perhaps the most well-known of his management career, but he has been responsible for some of the brightest young talents in motorsport from a much earlier age.
Team Oakes Racing was formed in 2011 to take on the karting ranks, with Callum Ilott and Marcus Armstrong the most notable drivers to have been affiliated. Nikita Mazepin – who would later have much closer ties with Oakes at Hitech – and Clement Novalak also drove for the team.
Hitech Racing became Hitech Grand Prix under Oakes’ gaze in 2015 and, over the years, took funding from Nikita Mazepin’s father, Dmitry, and his company Uralkali, which became controversial when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2021 and the Mazepins were hit by EU sanctions.
But aside from that, the team has underlined its status as a linchpin of the junior formulae, taking wins and challenging championships in almost every series it has participated in, with the likes of George Russell coming through their ranks.
George Russell, HitechGP Dallara F312 Mercedes-Benz with Oliver Oakes
Photo by: James Gasperotti
The highlight of this season so far is Paul Aron’s third in the F2 standings, following the Estonian’s consistency in the first half of the season.
In F3, Luke Browning is only six points off top in third heading into the final round of the campaign at Monza.
Oliver Oakes in F1
For Oakes, the step into F1 with Alpine is not his first look into the championship. Hitech was one of the hopeful outfits aiming to become an 11th team when the FIA opened its Expressions of Interest process last year, though the team never passed the governing body’s initial application stages. Andretti was the only team to manage that, though was rejected by F1.
But there is no doubting Oakes’ pedigree in leading an organisation forward. With Briatore in tandem, Oakes will be able to focus solely on Alpine’s on-track exploits at a time when its drivers are becoming particularly frustrated with its current situation.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly called on the team to cut out mistakes after three issues in as many races, while outgoing Esteban Ocon has been less than enthused with its lacklustre start to the season.
The irony is that Oakes was once a part of Christian Horner’s cohort of young drivers at Red Bull, yet his career has taken a near identical path.
A father who owned a junior racing team, a racing career cut short to take up the managerial reins and a step into the highest echelon of single-seater racing with a world-renowned brand.
How exactly he will instigate change at the team is yet to be seen, as is how much freedom he will have to take the reins alone, without the meddling that has so often hindered Alpine and Renault before it.
But if Oakes can have half the success of Horner in F1, Alpine will be most happy.
