Alpine executive consultant Flavio Briatore has insisted Oliver Oakes’ departure from the team was not down to any disagreement between them.
In a social media post Briatore claimed Oakes stood down for “personal” reasons and published a statement from the former team principal.The team announced Oakes’ departure yesterday evening, 12 hours before confirming it would replace Jack Doohan as one of its drivers from the next round of the championship. Briatore was long rumoured to favour promoting Franco Colapinto in place of Doohan.
In his post, Briatore said claims of a rift between him and Oakes were incorrect.
“A lot has been said in the past 24 hours incorrectly associating the decision of Oli resigning to an alleged disagreement or that we shared different views,” he said. “This is completely false and far from the truth.
“Me and Oli have a very good relationship and had long-term ambitions to drive this team forward together. We respect Oli’s request to resign and have therefore accepted his resignation. The reasons are not related to the team and are of a personal nature.”
Briatore, who returned to Alpine in his consultancy capacity last year, has taken over Oakes’ role following his departure.
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“I will continue to be more and more involved with the team, together with the strong management we already have in place. We will work hard on improving our position this season and preparing for 2026,” he added.
Five days ago, Oakes dismissed claims Colapinto would replace Doohan at Imola, saying: “As it is today, Jack is our driver along with Pierre.”
The statement issued by Briatore quoted Oakes saying: “It is a personal decision for me to step down.
“Flavio has been like a father to me, nothing but supportive since I took the role, as well as giving me the opportunity. Everyone is in place for 2026 and where this team deserves to be.”
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Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2025, 15:00
Maybe predominantly personal factors, but I’m still positive that the intra-team situation was at least a marginal contributor to his resignation decision.
Simon
7th May 2025, 20:17
Good for you :/
BasCB (@bascb)
8th May 2025, 22:06
I would not take Briatores word for anything.
S Arkazam
7th May 2025, 15:09
But he makes clear who comes first ;)
Alex De (@alexde)
7th May 2025, 16:55
Briatore should not be anywhere near F1.
SuperIU
7th May 2025, 19:31
+1
Snowy (@snowy666)
7th May 2025, 19:52
This, 100%. He is a disgrace and should never have been allowed to slime his way back.
Sham (@sham)
7th May 2025, 21:49
Leave him alone, he’s still serving a lifetime ban!
David BR (@david-br)
8th May 2025, 13:43
+1
Briatore and Symonds should have faced criminal prosecution for endangering the safety of an employee and potentially other people. It’s an indelible shame on FIA and Formula 1 that they were not. How this individual is allowed to be in charge of employees after the Singapore 2008 episode just staggers me.
Colin
8th May 2025, 13:56
Recall that Lewis Hamilton was got cheating and then he let Davey Ryan take the fall for it, ending the man’s career. Lewis is still in F1.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th May 2025, 22:07
Yeah, it is a disgrace anyone hired him
Nitin Patel (@nitin24)
7th May 2025, 17:00
I don’t trust anything Briatore says
Ferdi
8th May 2025, 7:09
This! How on earth would anything this man says or does have any credibility. Anything information coming from him is 100% useless. As a journalist I wouldn’t bother reflecting anything he says.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th May 2025, 22:08
Exactly
MacLeod (@macleod)
9th May 2025, 8:03
+1 Don’t listen or interact with him or bad things will happen to you. And if I see the mess the cheater must be the one caused that.
Riccard
7th May 2025, 18:13
“We respect Oli’s request to resign and have therefore accepted his resignation. The reasons are personal things like ‘integrity’ that are not related to the team or Briatore and do not align with his competitive values.”
^^ fixed that for him
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
7th May 2025, 18:19
Do we believe him? Nah not really. Flavio might be quite good at what he does but he’s as slippery as an eel.
Forrest (@forrest)
7th May 2025, 18:33
Ya, if you believe Flav’s claims about this, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
anon
8th May 2025, 19:58
@phil-f1-21 whilst few would seem to be prepared to trust Briatore, a recent news reports suggests Briatore’s claims that Oliver has “personal issues” might be something of a euphemism for a rather more serious issue for Oliver.
It was reported earlier today that William Oakes, Oliver’s brother and also his co-director at Hitech, had been arrested outside of the offices of Hitech with a rather substantial amount of cash on his person on the 1st May. The following day, the police released a statement stating that William has been charged with “transferring criminal property” – or, in more common parlance, money laundering – and he is currently being held in custody ahead of further proceedings in court.
There have been questions over the past few years about the relationship between the two Oakes brothers and the Mazepin family, and about who really owns the Hitech team. Journalists have investigated the relationship between Hitech and holding companies that Dmitry Mazepin set up in Cyprus, and Oliver Oakes was personally named by an MP during a parliamentary debate on money laundering legislation, with that MP asking questions about whether Oliver was acting as a proxy to handle money for Dmitry Mazepin.
Now, there are also reports that Oliver appears to have decided to fly to Dubai after the Miami GP, and his current location appears to be unknown. Given the news that now seems to be unfolding around him and Hitech, there could have been a rather different incentive for Oliver to resign his position at Alpine as quickly as he could.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th May 2025, 22:12
Ah, right. Hm, i do think i’ve seen some speculation about Mazepin being in the running for taking over the Alpine team…
I guess this adds to why Briatores and Makes might get along. Both seem happy to do dodgy stuff with money!
BasCB (@bascb)
8th May 2025, 22:44
I saw the independent report that
Kerry Maxwell (@kerrymaxwell)
7th May 2025, 21:06
Imagine believing a guy with multiple fraud convictions. Worse still, imaging letting a guy with multiple fraud convictions back in the sport. Though if you read Briatore’s Wikipedia page, his vision for the sport aligns perfectly with Liberty Media’s.
osnola
7th May 2025, 21:56
They even can become president..
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
9th May 2025, 21:45
Briatore:
“I do not like this new Formula One.
It’s not “our Formula 1.”
He pointed a finger at cars that “do not make a noise”, drivers having to “save fuel” and “fake overtaking”. He added:
“It is no longer a sport of gladiators, it is a sport of accountants.”
If that’s his vision of F1 it aligns with me too.
An Sionnach
7th May 2025, 23:14
Oakes was being interviewed at one of the races and I was wondering why they were bothering. I wanted to hear what Flavio thought. There isn’t room for two team principals.
Seppo (@helava)
7th May 2025, 23:27
Liars lie.
Nothing he says has any history of being worth believing. Why should this statement be any different? This is a man of utterly worthless moral character.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
8th May 2025, 0:17
As I understand it he didn’t resign over any one specific thing but there was frustration because it was becoming clear that Flavio had more say in decisions because he has the ear of Luca De Meo.
End of the day Luca De Meo is looking at things from the perspective that what is now Alpine had it’s gestest successes as Benetton & Renault when Flavio Briatore was at the helm and so he’s listening to Flavio’s advice more than anyone else’s.
And on Flavio’s side there is thought that he wants to come in and be seen as the one who took the team to the front again because he doesn’t like that his time in F1 has become defined by crashgate rather than his successes. And by coming in and been seen as the guy who turned the team’s fortunes around and hopefully takes them to another championship will as maybe the last thing he does in F1 become what he’s remembered for more than crashgate.
Dex
8th May 2025, 1:43
Bring the extinguisher, it smells like pants on fire.
The Dolphins
8th May 2025, 14:59
Playing devil’s advocate here: Colapinto’s showing in the ’24 Williams may have been overstated as he was replacing Sargeant. Doohan’s on the other hand may be understated given the ’25 Alpine looks to be a complete dog on track; a handful for the experienced Gasly. If Colapinto is coming to the team with money who are Alpine to turn it down, the team looks to be in shambles from the top-down and could use any resources thrown at them.
I hope this is a blessing in disguise for Jack and he lands in a seat that’s not an Alpine. As for Briatore, even this devil’s advocate wouldn’t represent him.
nunof
8th May 2025, 17:21
I won’t trust a single word from that disgusting mouth that is Briatore. He should be banned for life from anything F1
Wybe
9th May 2025, 15:46
Came here to check if anybody would say sorry now with all the wrong assumptions above…..
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
9th May 2025, 17:14
So, you believe Briatore?!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
9th May 2025, 17:02
If Briatore told me it was sunny outside I’d take an umbrella…