The boss of the Silverstone-based Hitech GP racing team has taken a job as Team Principal of the Alpine Formula One team.
Oliver Oakes was confirmed earlier this week as Alpine’s new Team Principal as a replacement for Bruno Famin, who was announced ahead of last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix as leaving the F1 side of Renault’s operation at the end of August 2024.
The 36-year-old was confirmed on Tuesday (31/07) as the new boss of the team, where he will report to the Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo.
He will be the second-youngest team principal in F1 history, in a record beaten only by Christian Horner, who was 31 when he first took charge of Red Bull Racing in 2005.
Oakes helped relaunch Hitech as Hitech Grand Prix in 2015 and had been racing cars in the Formula 2 and Formula 3 series. The firm also made a bid to join the F1 grid when the FIA opened up a process for potential new teams to apply, but were unsuccessful.
Before becoming a team administrator, Oakes had previously been a race driver, winning the Karting World Championship in 2005 and being funded by Red Bull’s driver programme when he attempted to step up to race cars before retiring from competitive driving.
Oakes said in a statement published by Alpine, “I am extremely grateful to Luca de Meo and Flavio Briatore for this opportunity to lead BWT Alpine F1 Team back to competitiveness. The team has talented people and excellent resources at its core, and I am confident that we can accomplish a great deal together during the remainder of this season and the longer term. I look forward to getting started after the summer break.”
Hitech GP have yet to comment on their arrangements going forward.
The Silverstone-based Hitech currently sit 4th in the F2 Constructor’s Championship, with Paul Aron having been a contender in the championship fight. They have 4 rounds remaining in Monza, Baku, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The team also sit 5th in the F3 Constructor’s Championship, although driver Luke Browning remains in contention for the Driver’s Championship ahead of the final round in Italy later this month.
The move comes amid a time of flux for Alpine, who recently re-hired former Team Principal Flavio Briatore as an executive advisor.
Having finished fourth in the 2022 season, they finished sixth in 2023 and currently sit eighth in 2024, picking up just 11 points from the first 14 races of the season.
Rumours are suggesting that the team, which is majority owned by Renault, is considering shutting down Renault’s F1 engine programme and becoming a customer of another engine manufacturer.
The team is also yet to confirm it’s second driver for 2025 alongside Pierre Gasly, with Esteban Ocon set to leave at the end of 2024 after five seasons with the team to join Haas.