Oliver Oakes talks about his “fear” of becoming Alpine’s third team principal in 18 months

Oliver Oakes joined the team after the summer break, a few weeks after Bruno Famin confirmed during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend that he would leave his position. A role he had taken on after the departure of Otmar Szafnauer, who, coincidentally, had also left the team a year earlier, after the race at Spa-Francorchamps.

The arrival of Oliver Oakes marked one of the many recent changes within the Enstone team, notably a technical restructuring earlier in the year. This saw David Sanchez appointed as Executive Technical Director, while Flavio Briatore became Executive Advisor in July.

During his appearance on the F1 podcast Beyond The Grid, Oliver Oakes was asked about his potential apprehension to become the third team principal of Alpine in such a short time. “I wouldn’t say there was apprehension about the revolving door,” he explained to host Tom Clarkson. “My apprehension was more personal: I have a young family and a very supportive wife, so I’m lucky on that front.”

« Everyone knows that I have my own team, Hitech, in the junior categories, which I built. It wasn’t really difficult to leave it because it’s still my company and I care about it. It is strong without me. But my apprehensions were more related to the choice of life than to the revolving door. »

A great responsibility

« Maybe you could say that I am naive, but I truly believe that being a team manager is a privilege and a very great responsibility. You don’t step into this role worrying about the revolving door. You step into it by assuming this responsibility », he explained about his role in the team.

The technical director of Alpine then discussed the questions he asked himself before accepting the position: « There are about 900 people who depend on you to provide leadership and support. For me, that was the first point. Am I capable of contributing something to this team that may not have been there before? And would it work? A lot depends on chemistry. It’s not just about money or politics. It really concerns the culture within the team, what the leadership understands from it and what it brings to it. For me, those were the main personal questions in my mind. »

Regarding the various changes that occurred in the team before his arrival, Oliver Oakes acknowledged that he had thought about it: “I haven’t ignored what happened here before,” said the team boss. “Otmar did a podcast where he was quite open about some of the issues he encountered, but it didn’t concern me because I had a really open conversation with Luca [de Meo] before accepting the position, and obviously with Flavio. It’s all part of the job. You just have to make sure everything works and everyone works together as a team. What mattered more was whether I actually believed in the project.”

« You don’t want to do F1 just to be a number, just to be one of the ten team principals. You want to do it because you want to make a difference, and I wouldn’t have accepted if I thought it was just a symbolic position. »

Alpine finished the 2024 season in sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship, marking a strong comeback after a difficult start to the campaign.