In his races last year he was fast but had some bumps and scrapes. He needs to keep the speed but turn that into scoring points. Doohan’s shown as the reserve driver for now.
Oakes's Alpine F1 exit came days after brother's arrest
May 8, 2025
Oliver Oakes resigned from the Alpine Formula 1 team just days after his brother William was arrested near their Hitech squad’s Silverstone base.
The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that William Oakes was remanded in custody last weekend, having been arrested while carrying “a large amount of cash”.
Oliver Oakes’ resignation from the Alpine team principal role was announced on Tuesday night.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police told The Telegraph: “William Oakes, 31, of Rugby was charged with transferring criminal property on Friday, May 2 after he was stopped in the Silverstone Park area in Northamptonshire on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in possession of a large amount of cash. He appeared before Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, May 3, and remanded in custody.”
The Oakes brothers are listed as the directors of the Hitech Global Holdings firm that operates the Hitech racing teams that Oliver led before moving into F1 with Alpine.
Oakes’ departure from Alpine was announced the night before it confirmed it was replacing Jack Doohan with Franco Colapinto.
But Briatore and Alpine issued a statement on social media on Wednesday afternoon insisting the reasons for Oakes’ departure were “not related to the team and are of a personal nature” and strongly denying a disagreement over driver policy had triggered his exit.
May 08, 2025, 05:36 PM
P250UA5
I saw the last part on the official F1 site. The cash part i hadn't seen yet.
The Enemy's gate is down.
May 16, 2025, 03:17 PM
DanH
From both practice sessions today, I'm not looking forward to the race. A lot of traffic problems and the fat positivity F1 cars can hardly get around each other. This is an old track that I'm not going to miss, and if there is some clause about needing 2 races in Italy, can we just go back to Mugello?
May 17, 2025, 08:49 PM
220-9er
Hopefully it will be an interesting race tomorrow. Maybe good from the tactical perspective but could be due to the possibility of needing two tire stops.
Nice to see Fernando back towards the front and hopefully due to car updates and not just a fluke. The team quietly did an excellent job with the tire strategy to get both cars in the hunt.
Tough times for the Italian fans.
Max making yet another teammate look second rate. Good to see Yuki didn’t hurt himself but a long night for the team.
Colapinto reverting to form. Fast but bumps into things often.
Today won’t have helped Lando’s confidence and he needs to get back to the front quickly without taking huge risks, which won’t be easy.
Yuki took quite a ride. Hoping for a good race, but it's clearly a tricky circuit with these cars.
The Enemy's gate is down.
May 17, 2025, 09:02 PM
220-9er
Yes, the cars look really large on this circuit so passing could be tricky. Tire management will be an essential skill and I wonder if someone will roll the dice on an alternative strategy.
The soft doesn't look much like a viable option for more than a couple laps. Maybe a few start on the hard & try to go long. I expect the majority to form up on the medium.
The Enemy's gate is down.
May 18, 2025, 06:40 AM
DanH
quote:
Originally posted by 220-9er: Nice to see Fernando back towards the front and hopefully due to car updates and not just a fluke. The team quietly did an excellent job with the tire strategy to get both cars in the hunt.
Not sure it was a fluke since he got there on Medium tires. If Aston didn't burn all their softs to get to Q3, they're probably looking at going soft/hard in the race.
May 18, 2025, 12:21 PM
9mmepiphany
It was pretty interesting to see how teams that chose to go 2-stop compared with teams that went 1-stop.
No, Daoism isn't a religion
May 18, 2025, 02:48 PM
P250UA5
Surprisingly good race, some good strategy & some good on track fighting.
A bit shocked at Max's pace at the end. Both on fresh tires & he was still pulling away.
Yuki did well, for a pitlane start. I was distracted at the start, did Yuki take the formation lap? Thought pitlane start didn't get to take the parade lap.
The Enemy's gate is down.
May 18, 2025, 03:52 PM
TMats
I missed Brundle. Nonstop talking from the announcer who took his place; didn’t watch qualifying, so I missed an announcement about his absence.
The broadcast team, at one point, seemed sure that this was going to be a two-stop race…ehh, not so much.
Max’s overtake and passing of Piastri in turn 1 brought me to my feet, about as exciting a race move as I’ve witnessed this season thus far.
Great to see Williams Racing threaten a podium spot, even for awhile. Good for them.
_______________________________________________________ despite them
May 18, 2025, 03:54 PM
P250UA5
Max's pass & Lando later, both on Piastri. Nailbiters.
Not sold on the Sky commentary this week. I've grown accustomed to Croft & Brundle.
The Enemy's gate is down.
May 18, 2025, 07:41 PM
DanH
Not crazy about it. Besides Verstappen's pass at the beginning, the only other interesting things about this race happened because of two cars breaking down.
What pissed me off more than anything else was F1TV froze on me at about the 25 minute mark and wouldn't progress any farther forcing me to Sky Sports on ESPN/YouTube TV.
May 19, 2025, 07:43 AM
smlsig
In addition to the brilliant lap 1 pass of Verstappen on Piastri (which was definitely part of the initial game plan contrary to the talking heads) the race pace of Ferrari was better than expected.
------------------ Eddie
Our Founding Fathers were men who understood that the right thing is not necessarily the written thing. -kkina
May 19, 2025, 07:57 AM
TMats
You may find this interesting, especially if it hasn’t already been posted.
_______________________________________________________ despite them
May 19, 2025, 08:27 AM
Ripley
quote:
Originally posted by smlsig: In addition to the brilliant lap 1 pass of Verstappen on Piastri...
That pass was a big moment. Piastri had more to lose than Max and maybe his lack of a sharp-elbowed response was due to that. Kinda what we've seen in Max-Lando meetings in the past. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
More Max-Oscar moments seem inevitable, Oscar so far has shown more fight than Lando until Imola. This might be Lando's only path to a championship, keep his nose clean while Max and Oscar compromise their races.
Set the controls for the heart of the Sun.
May 19, 2025, 10:36 AM
ChuckFinley
Fun weekend and race. Obviously Yuki cannot dwell on it but that was the sort of the crash that in the past, without the vehicle and barrier modern protections could well have proven fatal. Great to see Williams moving forward. Good for the sport. The Colapinto experiment hasn't gotten off to a great start.
_________________________ NRA Endowment Member _________________________ "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C.S. Lewis