Alpine F1’s recently appointed team principal, Oliver Oakes, has made it clear that he is fully committed to improving the fortunes of the Enstone-based squad and providing it with the clear leadership it desperately needed.
Having succeeded former interim team boss Bruno Famin, Oakes aims to break the cycle of managerial instability that has plagued the team since the summer of 2023.
The Hitech Racing founder who enjoyed great success in the lower echelons of the sport, joined Alpine alongside Flavio Briatore, the team executive advisor appointed by Renaut Group CEO Luca de Meo.
Oakes came in without "preconceived ideas," instead choosing to assess the situation and build from a clean slate. His goal is to give Alpine a clear direction from the top down and restore unity within the team.
"I think you come with your own ethos and approach in terms of how you feel you need to build that trust, that unity, and stability back in the team," Oakes explained, quoted by Motorsport.com.
"So the main thing I came with really was a sort of clean sheet of paper of right, you know, 'where are we at now? What things have we done right? What haven't we done right?' And I dare say you also want to listen a bit as well to some of that.”
Oakes emphasized that while Alpine has struggled, the team’s core strength lies in its deep experience and technical knowledge.
"It's a pretty special place at Enstone, I keep saying it, but there is a lot of knowledge there, it's been in F1 a long, long time, as Flavio keeps reminding me daily,” he added.
"But because of that, it knows what it's doing, it just genuinely needs some leadership and it needs support. And I think now, I'm going to say this because it's on my shoulders, but I think it's actually got a clear vision now and clear leadership.
“With me and Flavio there, we're committed.
One of Oakes' key goals is to give the team stability and a sense of direction.
"I think that's the biggest thing I wanted to bring really, that there's someone there who takes the bullet for the team, gives them the support and the direction they need.
"That was my only real sort of vision before starting. I actually felt it needed that, it needed someone there who was a racer, who understood what everybody was going through.”
Alpine has shown signs of improvement under Oakes’ leadership, with points-scoring performances at Spa and Zandvoort marking significant progress from the team’s difficult start to the season. Oakes credited the team's recent success to the upgrades they brought to these races, and he remains optimistic about their continued progress.
"The parts we brought to Spar and onto Zandvoort were quite a good uplift for us,” he said. “That was very, very positive, particularly from where the team started at the beginning of the season.
©Alpine
"I think full credit to [the team] for that. We plan between now and the end of the year to bring a couple more. It's sort of hard to balance now when you bring them a bit later because we're on the back foot at the beginning of the season.
"At the end of the day, we want to continue that sort of recovery from the beginning of the year."
For Oakes, the mission is clear: restore Alpine’s competitive edge, provide the leadership the team has been missing, and keep pushing for improvement.
“I’ve just got to deliver, haven’t I?” he concluded.
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