Oliver Oakes has praise for Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, as he learns more about F1 seeing how things can change soon in the sport.
After capturing 2-3 in F1 Brazil GP, Alpine boss Oakes had praise for his drivers Ocon and Gasly, who made some difference in those tricky conditions. He notes how the two French drivers have been pushing the team to find success and trying that their relation doesn’t hurt the team’s chances.
Even though they have had their moments since they have been teammates, it has largely been amicable and hasn’t hurt Alpine hugely in races. “There’s something special about Enstone, isn’t there? And Viry? You saw it in Brazil,” said Oakes to media. “It means a lot to all of them. It’s all the same people. I think sometimes racing’s like that as well.
“They just need to work together, a little bit of wind in the sails, a bit of stability, and it’s all special. Just how big is the role of drivers? I think it’s big. I think I said it very early on when I joined, actually, that Pierre and Esteban, I know they’ve had their history, their differences, to put it lightly, but they are strong, and you can see it in the team.
“They work hard. They’re committed. Even the tough weekends we’ve had, they’re pushing, and at the end of the day, they do play a massive part, even in Brazil’s result, you could see that. It was tough conditions, keeping it on track, making those calls, and they both got it absolutely spot on.
“They also have a mega track record of when they get these opportunities – they hate them – they seem really robust, those drivers,” summed up Oakes, who also had praise for Flavio Briatore, who made his comeback with Alpine in F1. He talks how he elated the Italian was with the podium result and was constantly calling him.
“Well, he rang me as soon as the flag dropped,” recalled Oakes. “He said, ‘why haven’t you rang me yet?’ I said, I’ve been a bit busy. No, but look, he’s been a big part of it. It’s a great team and you can see how much it means to him to be here on the track. Even when he’s not here, he’s on the phone to me, texting me.
“I’m really happy for him, actually. You can see how much it means to him.” Being the youngest team principal, Oakes is still raw in F1. He has had experience in the junior categories and winning there, but the world is largely different at the pinnacle. What he has learnt is development is key to success.
From the time he set in, he could see the updates Alpine had in Austin. The steps taken then have helped them in securing points in the last three rounds. The podium finish is a bonus. He thinks that the current regulation cycle allows teams to drop off, but also regain by bringing updates at the right time. “I think it’s all new to me and understanding the sort of highs and lows of F1,” he started.
“One thing that is surprising for me is exactly that, that someone can be strong early on and then the second half of the year they fall away, but they still end up finishing up there. And obviously this does help us to keep the confidence going in the team. I think since I arrived after the shutdown, I could see already really build up to Austin with a sort of tempering expectations because it has been really hard to develop a car, especially in season.
“I think we’ve seen that with quite a few teams. In Austin, I was full of praise, for the fact that it brought performance to the car. It was a bit trickier in the race, but then it was nice that Mexico backed that up in another way with points. And then I think in Brazil, to see another improvement on that, it definitely does help.
“And it’s more actually just credit to everyone at Enstone and Viry, because I think for them it does mean a lot. You can see that. It’s no secret that the car that was launched at the beginning of the year was probably not one which would go down in the sort of front end of one from Enstone if I’m honest.
“But I think the performance we brought with the car, sort of in season, I think is pretty impressive and I think you only have to look at that as it’s sort of gone on the rate of progression. I think what’s tricky in this sort of regulation cycle you can see it with different teams is you can start the year strongly then fade, you can improve during it and the trick is to sort of, stay there and also keep bringing performance. I’ve not been here long enough to judge that yet,” summed up Oakes.
Here’s Enstone celebration: https://x.com/AlpineF1Team/status/1854198662127120640
Here’s Alpine on securing Brazil GP podium
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