Oakes is the newest team principal Alpine has appointed; but, who is the new man in charge?
Oliver Oakes has been appointed Alpine's new team principal as the revolving managerial door at the Enstone-and- Viry-based company is stopped once more.
Following Otmar Szafnauer and Bruno Famin, the latter stepping down less than a year after making his temporary term permanent, he becomes the third person occupying the job starting with last season.
With the senior brass at Alpine apparently chopping and altering annually, the team principal post is far from the only one to have witnessed change in the previous three years.
However, that has altered when former manager Flavio Briatore arrived in an advising capacity; albeit his appearance in the news announcement declaring Oakes' hiring indicates he is significantly more integrated than would be imagined.
Therefore, who is the man assigned to turn things around with Oakes at leading hand and Mercedes engines slated to replace internal Renault in the next years?
A Junior Team Protege Of Red Bull
Given his father's connections to racing, Oakes has surrounded himself with the activity from a young age. Founding and proprietor of defunct Formula Renault and British F3 team Eurotek Motorsport was Billy Oakes.
Oakes was a two-time British Open karting champion before the age of 12 and won karting world champion at the age of 17, defeating rivals including Valtteri Bottas, Jules Bianchi and Edoardo Mortara. That resulted in him being selected by Red Bull's remarkable young driver programme.
Oakes would have been at Red Bull at the time together with WEC winners Brendon Hartley and Sebastien Buemi in addition to former F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Following a transfer to Formula BMW, Oakes claimed pole and the victory in his debut race would qualify him for what was then the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award now the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award.
While transfers to British F3 and GP3 arrived, his racing career never blossomed exactly like it threatened and he left the cockpit to take up what has since been a successful managerial career. You may also read this: Ocon Canadian Gp Alpine F1 Outburst
Headlining the Grand Prix for Hitech
Although Oakes's leadership of Hitech is most well-known, he has been instrumental in producing some of the most outstanding young motorsport stars from a far younger age.
Established in 2011 to compete in the karting ranks, Team Oakes Racing has Marcus Armstrong and Callum Ilott as most prominent drivers linked. Clement Novalak also drove for the team, while Nikita Mazepin would later have even tighter links with Oakes at Hitech.
Under Oakes's direction, Hitech Racing changed its name to Hitech Grand Prix. Over time, Dmitry, the father of Nikita Mazepin, and his business Uralkali provided finance; this became contentious when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2021 and the Mazepins were slapped by EU sanctions.
Apart from that, the team has emphasized its importance as a pillar of the junior formulas, having taken victories and challenged championships in practically every series it has run with the likes of George Russell emerging through their ranks.
Following the Estonian consistency in the first half of the season, Paul Aron's third in the F2 standings marks the high point of this season.
Luke Browning is just six points off top in F3, third heading into Monza's campaign's last round.
Oliver Oakes in Formula One
The trip into F1 with Alpine is not Oakes' first glance at the competition. Though the team never survived the first application stages, Hitech was one of the optimistic companies hoping to become an 11th team when the FIA launched its Expressions of Interest procedure last year. Andretti was the only team that managed that, albeit F1 turned him down.
Oakes's pedigree in guiding a business forward is unquestionable, though.
Hitech engineer Gavin Bickerton-Jones told Motorsport.com: "In all these F1 teams, there's some very great people but occasionally there is not one guy pulling them all together. Oli is accustomed to handling a wide range of daily challenges, hence he may be the glue binding them together.
"He is running in four or five different championships, which is probably approximately 20 to 25 drivers' parents should handle! Joking aside, understanding how to deal with it and juggle it is a skill; he has politely and politically managed to do that.
"He will most likely go under the radar for many people but like all these things, you don't just come from nowhere off the street."
Oakes will be free to concentrate entirely on Alpine's on-track performances at a time when its drivers are particularly annoyed with its present circumstances with Briatore in tandem.
While departing Esteban Ocon has been less than enthusiastic with its lackluster start to the season, Pierre Gasly urged the team to cut out errors following three difficulties in as many races at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Ironically, Oakes was previously a member of Christian Horner's Red Bull cohort of young drivers, yet his career has followed almost exactly.
A father running a youth racing team, a racing career cut short to take over management, and a move into the top level of single-seater racing with a world-known brand.
It remains to be seen exactly how he will start transformation at the team as well as how much leeway he will have to seize alone, free from the intervention that has so frequently hampered Alpine and Renault before to now.
Alpine will be most content, though, if Oakes can have half the success of Horner in Formula One.
