New Alpine F1 boss will be appointed soon, says Briatore

The Alpine Formula 1 squad appears a little closer to appointing a full-time team principal to replace Oliver Oakes, who departed unexpectedly and with immediate effect at the beginning of May.

Oakes, recruited from his Hitech GP operation last summer by Briatore, resigned less than a week after his brother William, also a director of Hitech GP, was arrested and charged with “transferring criminal property” by Metropolitan Police. The property in question was described as “a large amount of cash”.

Briatore has been covering the team principal role ever since, though the fact that he is a contractor (as ‘executive advisor’ to Renault, parent company of Alpine, CEO Luca de Meo) rather than a full-time employee means that for “administrative reasons”, racing director Dave Greenwood is the outfit’s nominated representative. Nevertheless, during the Friday ‘team representatives’ press conference ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, it was Briatore rather than Greenwood who appeared for Alpine.

“We’re looking [for a replacement team principal],” said Briatore. “For the moment, nothing [has] changed.

“I feel sorry for Ollie [Oakes], honestly, because I had a very good relationship with him. He was a good team principal. Everybody knows for personal reasons he stopped and resigned from Alpine.

“We’re looking. We don’t want to make any mistake. I’m prepared to take some time. But the moment we decide what is the new team manager, put it this way, we’ll tell you.”

Oakes, believed to have spent some time in Dubai after leaving Alpine, was understood to have attended the Monaco Grand Prix weekend but maintained a low-key presence when venturing away from the multi-storey Parking des Pecheurs where the F3 and F2 teams base their operations.

When Briatore was asked what qualities he was looking for in the new team principal, he was interrupted by Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who quipped “cheap”.

“There’s a lot of people, it is possible to be doing this kind of job,” said Briatore. “But we’re looking for somebody good, somebody who understands, somebody who wants to be part of the team.

“I know a few people who want to be part of this new trip with Alpine. We decide quick.”

It’s fitting, perhaps, that the man who said there was “no set limit” on the number of races rookie Franco Colapinto would undertake for Alpine, when the team’s own official announcement put that number as five, should contradict himself over the timeline for a new team principal between breaths.

Perhaps it is a deliberate tactic. He’s going to “take some time” – but “decide quick”.