Oliver Oakes
Oliver Oakes is a British motorsports executive and former racing driver. He was Team Principal for the Alpine F1 Team from July 2024 to May 2025 when he resigned from the role.
He was the 2005 World Karting champion, and was once a part of the Red Bull Junior Team. Oakes moved into team management when he set up his first karting team in 2011 before launching junior single-seater racing team Hitech GP in 2015 which he was team principal and director of until he took over the Alpine F1 Team in 2024.
Biography
Early life
Oakes was born 11 January 1988, the son of Billy Oakes, the founder and owner of the former Formula Renault and British F3 team Eurotek Motorsport. He was educated at King's Ely. He began karting at age 4.Racing career
Beginning his racing career in karting, Oakes was twice British Open Champion at the age of 12. His karting career ended after winning the Karting World Championship in 2005 at 17 years of age. His performances saw him attract the attention of the Red Bull Young Driver Programme.Moving to car racing in 2006, Oakes debuted in Formula BMW with Carlin Motorsport, where he took pole and the victory in his first race. Further claiming 3 podiums and a string of strong results, he finished the season in 6th overall in the Formula BMW UK Championship. He was nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.
In 2007, Oakes joined Motopark for the 2007 Formula Renault Eurocup season in which he finished 12th.
Oakes joined Eurotek Motorsport to compete in the British Formula 3 Championship in 2008, taking pole position at the final round at Donington.
He moved to Carlin Motorsport for his 2009 campaign, but left after two rounds. Oakes took up test-driver roles for the rest of 2009 and raced in the GP3 Series in 2010 for Atech CRS, finishing 28th in the championship.
Post-racing career
Since 2010 Oakes has been involved in various team roles whilst maintaining an ongoing affiliation with Tony Kart.Team Oakes Racing
Team Oakes is a karting team and management service founded in 2011. Former drivers include Callum Ilott, Marcus Armstrong, Nikita Mazepin and Clement Novalak. Team Oakes have competed in WSK Championship Events, the German DKM Series and the CIK-FIA World and European Championships.Hitech GP
was formed in early 2015 with David Hayle who previously formed Hitech Racing in 2003. Hitech currently competes in the FIA Formula 2, FIA Formula 3 and F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA as well as managing the racing operations of W Series and the FIA Motorsport Games.Alpine F1 Team
Oakes was announced as the Team Principal of Alpine F1 Team following the departure of Bruno Famin in August 2024. He would lead the team for the rest of the 2024 season and the start of the 2025 Formula One World Championship. He achieved his lone podium, and Team Enstone's first double podium since 2013, at the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix. He resigned from his position in May 2025, days after his brother William, who was also a director for Hitech GP, was arrested for "transferring criminal property". Following the 2025 Miami Grand Prix, which was his last race as Alpine team principal, he flew to Dubai. Flavio Briatore would assume the role of de facto team principal in his place.Racing record
Career summary
† Oakes was a guest driver and ineligible for points.Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Points |
| 2006 | Cram Competition | ZOL 1 | ZOL 2 | IST 1 | IST 2 | MIS 1 | MIS 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | DON 1 Ret | DON 2 Ret | LMS 1 Ret | LMS 2 8 | CAT 1 19 | CAT 2 8 | NC† | 0 |
| 2007 | Motopark Academy | ZOL 1 7 | ZOL 2 7 | NÜR 1 6 | NÜR 2 10 | HUN 1 11 | HUN 2 16 | DON 1 11 | DON 2 7 | MAG 1 8 | MAG 2 5 | EST 1 14 | EST 2 14 | CAT 1 17 | CAT 2 17 | 12th | 32 |
† As Oakes was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points
Complete Formula Renault 2.0 NEC results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Points |
| 2007 | Motopark Academy | ZAN 1 8 | ZAN 2 5 | OSC 1 Ret | OSC 2 5 | ASS 1 3 | ASS 2 Ret | ZOL 1 3 | ZOL 1 3 | NUR 1 3 | NUR 2 3 | OSC 1 6 | OSC 2 4 | SPA 1 4 | SPA 2 5 | HOC 1 | HOC 2 | 4th | 191 |
Complete GP3 Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Points |
| 2010 | ATECH CRS GP | CAT FEA 14 | CAT SPR 10 | IST FEA 12 | IST SPR Ret | VAL FEA Ret | VAL SPR 19 | SIL FEA 13 | SIL SPR 8 | HOC FEA 13 | HOC SPR 20† | HUN FEA 16 | HUN SPR 10 | SPA FEA 17 | SPA SPR 10 | MNZ FEA 12 | MNZ SPR 9 | 28th | 0 |