It is the Saturday of the United States Grand Prix in Austin, and in a few hours, the grid will roar to life with the F1 Sprint Race, followed by qualifying for Sunday’s main event.
But in the Alpine hospitality space the newly-minted Team Principal, Oliver Oakes, is giving a few media members including SB Nation a lesson in the team’s past, present, and future.
“And I think one of my big jobs when I started was actually embracing kind of our legacy a bit. And also the fact now that we are representing Alpine, a new brand, that’s gonna be really cool,” said Oakes last Saturday.
“You know, the cars that are launching. I don’t know if you saw the past few weeks at the Paris Motor Show, but they’re really exciting. And we were really lucky at Enstone [the team’s factory]. We got the first A290 there in reception, and trying to also show the team actually what we represent, because there is also the history of the great cars we had there,” added Oakes. “Fernando [Alonso’s] 2005 car is there in reception and then when the A 290 came sort of showing a little bit that DNA now coming through.”
It is a racing legacy, and a driving legacy, that Oakes believes the team should feel “fortunate” to represent, even when the team is struggling on the F1 track.
“We should feel quite fortunate to be representing that,” added Oakes. “But it’s not necessarily at the moment, with the cars just coming through to be shown at motor shows and the direction we’re going in, that’s really exciting to be part of that. And hopefully, as the team recovers and those cars come out to market, it’ll be a really nice story and a racing DNA with everything we’re doing.”
It is a racing history — and a future — that Oakes believes in.
And he might be the perfect person in charge of unlocking it all.
Oakes’ path to the top at Alpine
Oakes’ path from his racing roots to becoming the second-youngest team principal in F1 history — behind only Christian Horner who was 31 when was named to head Red Bull — is a fairly similar path to others in the paddock. He is a former driver (and the 2005 World Karting Champion) who was once a member of Red Bull’s junior program.
But when his racing days ended, he went to the other side of the wall, founding both a karting team as well as Hitech GP, which competes in various support series such as Formula 2, Formula 3, and the F3 Asian Championship.
This summer he was tapped to take over at Alpine as team boss, when Bruno Famin was moved into another position within the organization. As the youngest team boss on the grid, Oakes conceded that he has been given a “bit of stick” as a result.
But it also gives him a fresh set of eyes through which he can view the situation at Alpine.
“I think obviously it’s good coming in with no preconceptions and obviously just straight in as well,” began Oakes. “You don’t the winter where you’re waiting. So as much as my wife probably gives me a bit of stick that there was no sort of shutdown for us, I was straight in starting the job,” said Oakes, who was appointed as Team Principal at Alpine during the summer shutdown, thus missing a bit of a break as he had to get up to speed quickly.
“Actually, I think it’s the right way because obviously the team, sort of for two years, had a bit of a tough time, and coming in like I have, you kind of hit the ground running in terms of hitting those reality checks face on.
And that’s good because at least you can already start trying to get your front foot forward for 2025, and if it does take a little bit of time to sort of see those steps forward come to fruition, I think it’s good.”
Oakes also believes his age gives him an easier time of relating to drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, as well as other members of the team, and the grid at large.
“It’s interesting, like I haven’t looked at it like that because obviously for me it’s just kind of normal that I know them all,” said Oakes when asked about his age. “You know, some have drove with me. Some I’ve, you know, see other teams and competing against them.
“I think in a way, maybe it’s kind of easier to resonate with them in a way. But actually, I think it’s just kind of normal, really. If you’re the team boss, you know what they’re going through, you’re there to push them, support them, the carrot and the stick,” added Oakes. “But I feel kind of lucky as well because I guess being the age I am and you know, having that responsibility, it’s it’s kind of cool as well.”
Turning around the ship at Alpine F1
It has been a difficult few seasons at Alpine.
With Alonso and Ocon in the fold in 2022, Alpine finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship. But 2023 was a much different story. Alonso left Alpine for Aston Martin, and when they missed out on Oscar Piastri, Alpine turned to Pierre Gasly to replace Alonso. Last year’s car did not deliver the performance they were hoping for, and Alpine slumped to sixth in the standings, as both McLaren and Aston Martin made big strides.
This season has been even tougher. Their 2024 challenger, the A524, came in overweight at the start of the year and as a result, Alpine has been fighting uphill ever since.
They arrived in Austin sitting ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, and still sit there right now, four points behind Williams.
Despite the recent track record, it is a team and a heritage that Oakes believes in, and he also believes there is a tremendous opportunity to turn it all around. That opportunity is what Oakes pointed to when he was asked why he took the job.
“I live, like, five minutes away,” joked Oakes initially, before pivoting to the real reason he said yes.
“So I kind of had a really good feeling about Enstone. I mean, it’s an amazing place, the history of the team. And obviously, you want to work for a team that you’re proud to represent because it is a responsibility,” described Oakes. “You’ve got almost, you know, 900 people who depend on you not just for the jobs, but also for your leadership. Your choices that you make, and the interests of the team.
“And then, for me, the sort of other big decision really was opportunity. Do you believe, the sort of team you’re gonna lead, can you help bring that team back? Do you have the backing to do that? And backing isn’t just sort of the leadership, Luca [de Meo, Renault’s Chief Executive Officer] and Flavio [Briatore, Alpine’s Executive Advisor], it’s also the support,” said Oakes.
“Financially, it’s not a cheap business. You need to be able to invest, and also you’re not gonna get it right in every decision. So you need to know you’ve got each other’s back, and I think they were the main things for me,” Oakes added. “I knew the team before I came. “You know, it’s been quite difficult for the last two years, I think.
“As you see in F1, it’s not 12 months. It’s not six months. You’ve got to look back at a proper timeline. So I kind of knew eyes wide open what I was walking into. And that actually excited me a little bit because Enstone hasn’t forgotten how to build a good race car,” stated Oakes. “It hasn’t forgotten that DNA of being a sort of real good racing team.
“But somehow we need to get back a little bit of that spirit back in the team.
“And that is what really excited me.”
As for how Oakes brings that spirit back to Alpine?
“You can already see it in the past six to eight weeks that I think it’s hard for the team because whatever you do is wrong. You know when you’re having a bit of a tough time, everybody will pick on you for every decision you make without knowing the reasons behind that, and obviously for me, I think this team just needs a bit of love,” said Oakes, channeling his inner Charlie Brown from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
“At the end of the day, you know we haven’t done a good job for two years. There’s loads of reasons for that, and it’s really easy to sort of sling mud and blame the past like a few guys have done with podcasts and different stuff.
“But actually, you know, everyone needs to probably just kind of take a bit of responsibility and [put their] front foot forward. I really believe, actually that it’s an opportunity for us the next sort of 12, 18 months to kind of go out there and prove that we do know what we’re doing.
“At the end of the day, the kind of stopwatch never lies in F1 It’s great, isn’t it? It’s like in any sport,” added Oakes. “The result is there. There’s so many tangible things, but that just never lies.”
Alpine’s past, present, and future
Shortly after our meeting with Oakes, Gasly and Ocon took to the track for the F1 Sprint Race.
Things did not go their way in that event as both drivers finished out of the points, Gasly in P14 and Ocon right behind him in P15.
But later in the day, the stopwatch did not lie, as Gasly delivered arguably the team’s best qualifying performance of the entire 2024 campaign. Not only did he advance into Q3, eventually qualifying up in P7, but it was how Gasly advanced. This was not a situation where he just squeaked by in Q1 and Q2, but he was high up in both Q1 and Q2, with his name topping the timing tower on multiple occasions.
Gasly called it a “fantastic surprise” when he spoke with the media following qualifying.
Alpine brought several upgrades to Austin, and in the hours before Gasly’s surprising qualifying session, Oakes told me that what the team had seen so far was promising, and the upgrades seemed to be delivering.
“I think definitely have worked, like brought some performance. I think what’s really tough is when it’s a sprint weekend and you’ve just got that one hour [of practice]. You kind of, I dare say, like dialing those in and actually even drivers getting up to speed with the track. Then you’ve got the upgrades on. It was a busy day yesterday, and you kind of, I don’t know, as everybody realizes, but you kind of go from the practice straight into sprint quali,” outlined Oakes. “Then you can’t touch the car. You’ve got the sprint race.
Then, between the sprint race and [Grand Prix qualifying], we can adjust things a little bit more. So it’s kind of weird because you’re kind of really up against it, sort of yesterday with that one hour, then you kind of at the moment go. ‘We can’t actually change it.’ You think ‘[W]e’ve got to wait.’
“And then we go into sort of qualifying this afternoon, hoping to make another step forward,” added Oakes. “So that’s all pretty exciting.”
While the upgrades did not pan out on Sunday, as Gasly and Ocon both finished outside of the points, there is now potential in this car given what Gasly was able to do at Austin. In addition, Ocon did manage to post the fastest lap of the race with a run on the softs in the closing stages, which while it did not produce a bonus point for the team in the standings, it is another indication that perhaps the upgrades are adding some performance.
Another exciting aspect for Oakes and Alpine? The future. Aa new season on the horizon, one that will bring Jack Doohan joining the team to drive alongside Gasly, a driver Oakes spoke very highly of during our discussion.
Then with regulations coming to shake up the sport in 2026, things could look really different at Enstone in the coming years. Including a new power unit for the cars, as the team will shift to becoming a customer operation when the new regulations arrive in 2026.
While that brings to a close an era of Renault/Alpine supplying their own power units as a works operation, it is also a moment of opportunity for the team.
“It’s really tough because you’re compromising all the time and you can’t make everyone happy with what they want,” said Oakes when asked by SB Nation about balancing improving the car for the rest of the 2024 season, getting ready for 2025, and looking ahead to 2026. “I think everybody wants everything today, but that’s not reality in F1
“I think actually, for us as a team, we had a pretty tricky start to the season and we’re sort of playing a little bit of catch-up. But nobody ever stops in F1.
“So unfortunately, I dare say we brought an upgrade this weekend, it’s helped us to sort of move forward a little bit, but everybody’s brought upgrades, and then you kind of go, ‘[o]h, how big was our step?’ So you’re always kind of playing that sort of battle, I guess, to keep improving,” said Oakes.
“And then you go into the winter, you know, we’ve got it at the moment, where how much effort do you put into the beginning of 2025? Because the new rules come out in January and you kind of go, well, we want to make a really good car to start 2025,” added Oakes. “But actually, we know 2026 is the most important thing for the team.
“It is a real good challenge because, actually, you’ve got to be really smart, strategic, and some of it is a little bit of, I wouldn’t say luck, but if you make the right steps and they pay off, you’ve kind of got more breathing room to go and focus on the longer-term stuff.”
Alpine took a step forward in Austin.
But under Oakes’ leadership, even bigger steps are in their future.
