Ted Kravitz reveals strong Christian Horner and Helmut Marko connection with new Alpine boss

Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz said he has seen new Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes around the paddock with Red Bull’s Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, detailing their long-standing association.

With Bruno Famin departing the Alpine team boss role after just a year in it – now moving across to oversee the Viry engine base – Alpine named 36-year-old Hitech GP team boss Oliver Oakes as Famin’s successor.

Oliver Oakes ‘well-known’ to Helmut Marko and Christian Horner

Speaking on the Sky F1 podcast, Kravitz would compare Oakes to another big mover in Jonathan Wheatley, who it was announced will leave the Red Bull sporting director role to become Audi team principal.

Kravitz would detail a long-standing connection between Oakes, Red Bull senior advisor/driver programme boss Marko and Red Bull team principal Horner, reflected in the trio being seen together around the paddock.

Oakes was in fact previously part of the Red Bull Junior Team, while his Hitech squad has fielded various Red Bull juniors in their line-ups over the years, including Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar, Dennis Hauger, Jak Crawford, Juri Vips and Ayumu Iwasa.

On Oakes taking his first step into F1 team management with Alpine, Kravitz said: “In a sense, I don’t suppose we should be surprised, because with his Hitech Grand Prix organisation, he did apply, along with Andretti Global, to get an entry into Formula 1.

“Now, it was only Andretti who were granted permission by the FIA, Hitech were told, ‘not now, but not never, go back and have a think and strengthen up your bid and then come back.’ And of course, we know what’s happened since with Formula 1, saying that there’s no room at the inn for Andretti.

“But Oakes is a ambitious guy. He’s used to being a team principal, which is where he differs from Jonathan Wheatley, and it’s just never been a team principal in Formula 1, and unlike Wheatley, and they’re quite interesting comparisons, Oakes has never directly had a job in Formula 1.

“But he does have experience of being a team principal. He runs teams very successfully in Formula 2, Formula 3 and Formula 4, and has tried to get into Formula 1.

“Now, what we don’t know is whether Oakes is going to continue to be the boss of Hitech. I assume he is, but I think he only starts after the summer break, so I’m sure we’ll hear that in due course.

“But he’s an ex-Red Bull young driver, he won the World Karting Championship in 2005, a kind of contemporary of Valtteri Bottas, that kind of era of driver.

“And I’ve seen him around the place with Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, because he runs many of the Red Bull junior drivers in the lower formulas, and so Oakes does a lot of work with Helmut Marko and Christian Horner in what they do with their young drivers. So he’s well-known to those two.

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“He’s well-known to Flavio Briatore, who’s now the executive advisor to Luca de Meo, the Renault boss, and Oliver seems to have impressed Flavio Briatore. Flavio seems to have seen something in Oliver Oakes that he likes and admires, maybe reminds Flavio of a younger himself way back when.

“And Flavio has recommended it seems to Luca de Meo that he [Oakes] is the next team principal, as he’s been now appointed, of the Alpine team, which, let’s not forget, is the Renault works team in Formula 1. So it’s a big job, in terms of status, being the team principal of a works Formula 1 team.

“And it’s a big job in terms of the job list of things he has to do to get Alpine actually back to competitiveness. But they’re all making the right noises about his ability to do that. And despite it being his first job in Formula 1, I think a lot of people think that Oakes has got a very good chance of success in there, because he knows how race teams work.”

Alpine sit P8 in the current F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship standings with 11 points scored.

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