The tough ‘write off’ decision facing Alpine in ‘unacceptable’?scenario

Thomas Maher
Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Alpine team boss Oli Oakes has explained the approach his team will take to the F1 2025 season.

Alpine’s team boss Oli Oakes has revealed a critical choice he will have to make as team boss during the F1 2025 season.

With the F1 regulation books being torn up after this season for a completely refreshed rulebook in F1 2026, many of the teams will play a delicate balancing act during this season.

Oli Oakes: Alpine won’t write off a whole season

The balancing act element is due to the existence of a budget cap in Formula 1, which restricts team spending on performance and car-related areas.

With the F1 2026 regulations requiring plenty of research and development, as well as the production of brand new components and parts, the associated costs to prepare for the rule changes are therefore far greater than the costs during 2024 given the stable ruleset for ’25.

With 2025 being the last year of the current regulations, every race marks a diminishing return for a team aiming for competitiveness, meaning that any team failing to hit the ground running may opt to switch focus to 2026 far earlier than a team contending for the championship.

After securing sixth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2024, Alpine is one of the teams aiming to make big improvements this season, whilst also having the opportunity of a relatively low-stakes season in order to potentially steal a march on some of its rival teams.

Six months ago, the Enstone-based squad brought in a new team boss, Oli Oakes, to replace Bruno Famin – Oakes boasting a long pedigree as team founder and operator of the successful Hitech GP teams in several junior categories, including Formula 2 and Formula 3.

The British former racing driver opened up on his approach to the new season in an exclusive interview with PlanetF1.com.

“My vision? I think really it’s already there. I want a clear focus on ‘We’re here to go racing’,” he said, when asked about the vision he has for the team as he moulds it in his image.

“We’re not going to accept walking to the back of the grid, we want to be there in the midfield, and we eventually want to be there at the front of the grid – but that doesn’t happen overnight, it doesn’t happen in six months, 12 months, that takes a bit of time and I think also you need to stack everything step-by-step and I think, obviously, the first step was to come in and support the team, give it some stability, and give it some leadership.

“The second step is to put it in the direction we want to go. That isn’t always anything tangible, some of that is really a bit of values, a bit of culture, and a bit of a discussion over what we need to do to get better.

“I think there are obviously some strategic choices there – whether that’s your driver lineup, whether that’s your power unit decision, and then, obviously, we go into ‘25, which is probably one of the busiest years or busiest winters you’re going to have in F1.

“You’d love to make loads of improvements, but you’re a bit limited with the budget cap and focusing on 2026.

“You’ve got to decide as the team boss, do you want to, I dare say, write off ‘25 and focus only for ‘26 and ‘27?”

Oakes believes that, if any team is already talking about switching focus to the new regulations, it means that team has failed to unlock the performance it had hoped for over the winter.

“I don’t believe anyone’s going to do that in F1 because everyone wants to go racing, everyone’s pushing,” he said.

“When I read some of that recently, I thought, well, that’s because some teams know they’re already not finding the performance they want for 2025.

“I think, from our side, we’ve got to balance those resources, but we’re not going to write off a whole season.

“At the end of the day, I think we had broad performance in 2024 and I hope we can do that this year whilst also keeping an eye on ‘26.”

More on Alpine in F1

? Explained: Who is Oliver Oakes, the rookie F1 boss Alpine has entrusted its future to?

? F1 2026: Confirmed teams and power unit suppliers for F1’s huge regulation changes

 

Oli Oakes: Alpine focusing on getting the basics right

With Oakes stepping into the role as team boss shortly after Flavio Briatore was appointed as executive director to Groupe Renault CEO Luca de Meo, he explained how the focus has been on simplifying the Enstone team’s approach to going racing.

These appointments overlapped with the story of Renault’s decision to pull the plug on its F1 power unit development programme and factory at Viry-Chatillon, which will be repurposed as a new project under Famin.

Hypertech Alpine is the name given to the engineering centre being created at Viry, which will transform into a development centre for ultra-high-performance vehicles and technologies for Alpine and the wider Renault Group.

Projects confirmed for Hypertech Alpine include an Alpine Supercar, battery development for ultra-high energy density cells and solid-state batteries, R&D for electric vehicle technologies, and the Alpine motorsport programme – these will include the World Endurance Championship, Formula E and rallying (such as Dakar) for partner brands, and customer racing.

Viry has thus been transformed into a state-of-the-art engineering centre by late 2024, with every employee of the F1 power unit programme offered a new position within Alpine Hypertech.

Alpine has switched to an engine customer supply deal for the new regulations, taking on the Mercedes engine and gearbox, and will thus be able to focus on its chassis and aero without coordinating with its own engine project.

“I was pretty direct when I joined, and with Flavio, together, we’re here to go racing. That’s the first thing,” Oakes said of his approach.

“For me, everything else is secondary and I think when you focus on that and you focus on getting the basics right, then you can start to be inventive about all those other things.

“People have started to see that the past sort of weeks or months since I’ve been here we don’t want to be here talking loads. We just want to focus on ourselves.

“Unfortunately, we’ve made a few own goals with certain things we had to announce that created a bit of noise.

“But, at the end of the day, that’s part of F1 today. If you look at the very best teams in F1, where they’ve got the balance right is their priorities, and that is getting everything about producing a quick car and then executing that well on track.

“I think for me, it might sound really simple, but that is my number one focus at the moment.”

Asked what he believes is the biggest change he’s brought about at Enstone since taking charge, Oakes smiled and said his time as the team leader has been too short to be able to commit to an answer just yet.

“I always feel wrong and a bit uncomfortable talking about that because I think, at the end of the day, you know, nothing I’ve done as one individual… the seeds are already planted in this recovery turnaround way before I joined the team,” he said.

“Probably I’ve been here more as someone giving a bit of confidence in the team. I think that’s the main thing. You’ll have to ask everybody else what they think, there are 900-odd people!”

Read Next: Oli Oakes exclusive: Life with Briatore and how Alpine’s new structure works

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