Oakes: Flavio has been like a father to me

While we were all waiting for Alpine to announce the replacement of Jack Doohan by Franco Colapinto, the Enstone-based team delivered the bombshell: Oliver Oakes has resigned.

Since then much has been written about the tension between Oakes, who was hired by Briatore—the team's executive advisor—to replace Bruno Famin back in July of 2024.

It has been rumored that Oakes did not want to let Doohan go and was pushing for Alpine reserve Paul Aron to be the replacement for the Australian and not Colapinto.

There were also speculations that Oakes was not ok with Briatore's controversial management style, but now both Alpine and Oakes have shared statements hoping to silence all the rumors.

In a statement on Alpine's Instagram channel, Oakes said: "It's been a privilege to lead everyone at Enstone; what a team, what a place.

"It is a personal decision for me to step down. Flavio has been like a father to me, nothing but supportive since I took the role, as well as giving me the opportunity.

"Everyone is in place for 2026 and where this dream deserves to be! I believe in Enstone," the Briton concluded.

Indeed GrandPrix247 has learned that Oakes' reasons to resign are more personal than has been reported.

The team, in a shared statement with Briatore, added: "A lot has been said in the past 24-hours incorrectly associating the decision of Oli resigning to an alleged disagreement, or that we shared different views. This is completely false and far from the truth.

"Me and Oli have a very good relationship and had long-term ambitions to drive this team forward together. We respect Olis request to resign and have therefore accepted his resignation. The reasons are not related to the team and are of a personal nature.

"I will continue to be more and more involved with the team, together with the strong management we already have in place. We will work hard on improving our position this season and preparing for 2026," the Italian concluded.