Following Oliver Oakes’ shock departure from the Alpine crew, the Enstone-based outfit’s government advisor Flavio Briatore has denied that he and the Briton have been disagreeing over the operating of the crew.
Having taken over the function from Bruno Famin lower than a yr in the past, Alpine crew boss Oliver Oakes has resigned from his function as F1 crew principal following final Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
Oakes joined Alpine as crew principal final July, taking on the function beforehand held by Bruno Famin. The Briton began his new function after the summer season break and he immediately reported to Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo.
His promotion noticed the 36-year-old Briton turn into the second youngest crew principal in System 1 historical past after Christian Horner, who was simply 33 years outdated when he began as crew boss at Crimson Bull in 2005.
Oakes based Hitech Grand Prix in 2015, which for nearly a decade, has been on the forefront of single-seater competitors on the world and nationwide stage.
Nonetheless, Alpine introduced two days after the Miami Grand Prix that Oakes has resigned from the squad with instant impact.
His shock exit was adopted by Alpine’s choice to swap Jack Doohan with reserve driver Franco Colapinto for the subsequent 5 races. The driving force change fed ideas that Alpine’s government advisor Flavio Briatore and Oakes disagreed on the transfer, and that has le to the Briton’s choice to depart the crew with instant impact.
Nonetheless, Briatore has now denied that he and Oakes have been disagreeing over the operating of the crew, claiming that they nonetheless have a superb relationship.
“Rather a lot has been stated up to now 24-hours incorrectly associating the choice of Oli resigning to an alleged disagreement, or that we shared completely different views. That is fully false and much from the reality.
“Me and Oli have an excellent relationship and had long-term ambitions to drive this crew ahead collectively. We respect Oli’s request to resign and have due to this fact accepted his resignation. The explanations are usually not associated to the crew and are of a private nature.
“I’ll proceed to be increasingly concerned with the crew, along with the sturdy administration we have already got in place. We’ll work exhausting on bettering our place this season and getting ready for 2026,” concluded the Italian.
On the identical time, Oakes has additionally commented on his transfer, suggesting that his choice was private and never motivated by the hierarch contained in the Enstone-based crew.
“It has been a privilege to steer everybody at Enstone, what a crew, what a spot. It’s a private choice for me to step down. Flavio has been like a father to me, nothing however supportive since I took the function, in addition to giving me the chance.
“Everyone seems to be in place for 2026 and the place this dream deserves to be! I imagine in Enstone,” he concluded.
F1
