[ad_1]
Oliver Ochs will take over as Managing Director of the Alpine Formula 1 Team with Bruno Famin returning to his full-time role at the brand’s base in Viry, France.
When the season resumes after the summer break, Ochs will become Alpine’s third team boss in 12 months. Last July, Famin replaced Otmar Szafnauer as team boss on an interim basis, which eventually became a full-time appointment.
Famin’s resignation comes amid a major shake-up at Renault’s Formula 1 team, and Oakes’ initial priority will certainly be to keep Alpine focused on maximising short-term performance while making key strategic decisions that affect its long-term prospects.
Renault is currently formally evaluating how to repurpose its Viry-Chatillon facility as it plans to abandon its Formula 1 engine project and become a Mercedes customer instead.
It is unprecedented for a manufacturer to stop supplying its own engines while keeping its team going. But that is the direction Renault is taking after CEO Luca de Meo appointed former team principal Flavio Briatore as his executive advisor.
Briatore is simplifying the F1 process – which many in F1 believe is the start of a long-term plan to eventually sell the team – because he believes it will be much cheaper, and likely more competitive too, as Renault has lagged behind its rivals throughout the V6 turbo-hybrid era.
Briatore’s arrival was always going to be a problem for Famine because it was clear that he would have a significant influence on De Meo’s decision-making process. Although Famine said they would work closely together, and Famine retained an important role as vice president of all Alpine motorsport projects, Briatore had real seniority where it mattered most. The fact that Briatore was even cited in the official Oaks announcement shows that he is more than just a background advisor.
Oakes’ arrival as team manager only gives him more focus on the team itself than he did with Famine wearing multiple hats, the team gets a clearer structure, and Famine himself can focus on overseeing what could be a painful transition for the people at Ferry he genuinely cares about.
“He has his own way, his own goal, his own everything,” Famin said of Briatore in an interview with Formula 1’s official podcast Beyond the Grid, which was released on Wednesday.
“In the few weeks I worked with him, I didn’t have any major problems, even any problems at all.
“But I don’t think we’re really taking the same approach. It would be much clearer to everyone internally and externally if we made the governance of the team clear.
“The second point is that in Ferry if this is confirmed we will have a huge transformation plan for the company, putting more resources on other motorsport programmes but also developing those new activities in high technology, then it is not easy for all the staff there and we need someone who is fully dedicated to this project and I am very happy to be dedicated to that.
“I think the decision was very easy, and I have no problem with that. I am very happy to be a team principal in Formula 1 for one year, and I am not sad to be leaving.”
By hiring Oakes, Alpine could have a more useful leadership structure if Briatore handles the operation at an executive level – much as he did during his tenure at Renault before leaving in disgrace after the Singapore Crashgate scandal – while the day-to-day running of the team is managed by someone who has no other responsibilities to distract from.
This should give Alpine a focused leader again, closer to the short-lived Szafnauer “era”, only with a slightly different top management structure – Briatore and Alpine CEO Philippe Krief (who has parted ways with the F1 project) compared to Alpine’s previous CEO Laurent Rossi (who was more involved and created friction).
Perhaps that’s what the team needs in the short term, especially as Alpine is doing pretty well on the track and has improved its car from a miserable starting point in 2024, barring some nightmare-level deviations in Britain and Hungary.
It has only been two years since this team finished fourth in the championship, so although their technical leadership is very different to what it was at the start of the year, the potential is there to achieve much better things than eighth in the constructors’ standings now.
Oaks was announced while Alpine still had a driver slot to fill in 2025 but that is likely to be a decision over him, partly because he has only just arrived but also because of Briatore’s influence. Jack Doohan is now thought to be the favourite after Carlos Sainz committed to Williams instead as the first target.
Once Oakes is up and running, his task, in the broadest sense, will be to get Enstone back to its full potential. He will need to quickly align with the established senior leaders at the plant and at the base, and ultimately mitigate any short- or medium-term disruption caused by Renault’s strategic changes – for example, what a Mercedes engine deal would mean for Enstone’s gearbox and rear suspension workers if that were suddenly imported from abroad.
But he should benefit from not being drawn into dealing with the Fieri side of things, or intervening at the corporate level, which is important because he inevitably faces a steep learning curve on the job.
It remains to be seen what will happen to the single-seater empire that Oakes built with Hitech GP, which has won every major class race in Formula 1.
Oakes remains a director of Hitech organisations including Hitech Twenty Six which was registered two years ago in a nod to its ultimately unsuccessful efforts to gain F1 entry for 2026.
[ad_2]
Source
