What triggered Alpine F1 boss Oliver Oakes' resignation?- Explained

The biggest Formula 1 news of this week is the sacking of Alpine driver Jack Doohan and the sudden resignation of their team principal, Oliver Oakes. The French F1 team is in crisis, and the team advisor, Flavio Briatore, was brought in as the interim team principal. Nobody expected things to get this big within a short period, and fans are wondering what triggered Oliver Oakes to resign from the job.

Also Read: Why Alpine F1 turned into a pressure cooker for F1 drivers and team bosses?

Reasons for Oliver Oakes' resignation

1. Sacking of Jack Doohan

As soon as Franco Colapinto was announced as the replacement driver for Jack Doohan from Imola GP, Oliver sent his resignation to the management, and it was accepted with immediate effect. This proves that Doohan’s axing is the biggest reason for Oliver Oakes to step away from the team. He wanted to continue with Doohan, which brought direct conflict with the top-level management and after disagreement, he resigned from his post.

2. Flavio Briatore back in charge

Any team principal would like to work independently without any outside pressure. But Oakes had to deal with one of the controversial figures in Formula 1, Flavio Briatore. Though the former team principal denied any involvement with Oakes' resignation, many fans still point their fingers at the 75-year-old man. As a team advisor, he would have also suggested axing Doohan and bringing in Colapinto, which may not have gone well.

3. Alpine’s Team culture

One of the strangest managements in F1 is definitely Alpine. The French-based team had a lot of controversies, and one was signing the now McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. After Fernando Alonso’s exit in the 2022 season, Piastri was announced as the replacement driver at Alpine. But the Australian denied it and said he had no intention of joining the French team.

Oscar then joined McLaren and see where he is now. People fear the team culture and it is not good for Alpine. Even former team principal Otmar Szafnauer complained that the restructuring and the instability in the leadership are the biggest reasons for Alpine’s downfall. 

Also Read: Oscar Piastri expresses sympathy after Jack Doohan’s axing from Alpine F1

4. Pressure from Franco Colapinto

There could also be more pressure from Colapinto and his sponsors, who are sponsoring the team. Franco has a huge fan following, especially among the Latin American fans. If Alpine doesn't promote him as the new driver, then he may leave the team and take all the sponsors with him. So Alpine is definitely under pressure from the Colapinto side, and that could also be the reason for Alpine to take the hard decision of sacking Doohan.

5. Doohan’s failure

 Before the season, it was rumoured that Jack Doohan would only be racing for the first five races. Now it looks like the rumour was real and only Oakes extended his race chance to one more race in Miami. So everyone knew what would happen if Doohan failed in his tasks. Oliver Oakes could have taken the responsibility for Jack Doohan's failure.

Pierre Gasly is driving the same car as Doohan but scored some good points while the Australian failed to bring any points in all the 6 races he drove for the team. We understand he is a rookie driver, but this is Formula 1 and every second is money and Alpine has to do something to bring that to the team. 

Also Read: Top 5 youngest drivers in Formula 1