It has emerged that days earlier than Oliver Oakes resigned as workforce principal at Alpine, his brother was arrested by police.
When Alpine introduced on Tuesday night that Oakes had resigned with quick impact, it was extensively assumed that his determination was associated to stories that Jack Doohan was to be dropped in favour of Franco Colapinto.
Certainly, lower than 12 hours later the French workforce formally confirmed that the Argentine would accomplice Pierre Gasly for the subsequent 5 races.
Nevertheless, Flavio Briatore subsequently took to social media to insist that Oakes determination was purely down to private causes, and feedback from the Briton appeared to again this up.
Now, nonetheless it has emerged that Oakes’ brother, William, was arrested by the police at Silverstone per week earlier.
“William Oakes, 31, of Rugby was charged with transferring prison property on Friday, Might 2 after he was stopped within the Silverstone Park space in Northamptonshire on Thursday, Might 1, 2025 in possession of a considerable amount of money,” say the Metropolitan Police.
“He appeared earlier than Northampton Magistrates’ Courtroom on Saturday, Might 3, and remanded in custody.”
Seemingly, Oliver subsequently headed to Dubai.
After all, Oliver Oakes arrived at Alpine with a strong repute having been the driving power behind Hitech, which had achieved success in F2 and F3 and even submitted a bid to enter the Formulation One World Championship in 2026.
Hitech was initially based in 2002 by Dennis Rushen and David Hayle but it surely was in 2015 that Oakes basically revived the workforce. Partnering with ART Grand Prix it contested the 2016 FIA F3 European Championship, whereas in 2020 it expanded into F2, one among its drivers being Nikita Mazepin.
On signing Mazepin, his father Dmitry’s firm Uralkali turned a sponsor and partial proprietor of the workforce, the Russian subsequently rising his stake to 75% courtesy of a Cyprus-based funding firm Bergton Administration Ltd.
Within the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, by which period Uralkali had develop into a sponsor of the Haas F1 workforce, for which his son now drove, Bergton’s shares have been bought to Oakes who subsequently fashioned a brand new firm Hitech International Holdings Ltd. This firm was fashioned simply three days after Mazepin and his son have been sanctioned by the British Authorities and the European Union.
It’s unclear how a lot cash William Oakes had in his possession, its origin or its vacation spot, however allow us to daydream that it was “north of a billion” and for use to buy Alpine on Dmitry Mazepin’s behalf, the Russian having made a shock go to to pre-season testing in Bahrain simply a few months in the past.
“Dmitry was on a private go to,” a spokesman for the Russian instructed ESPN on the time. “He has remained mates with many individuals within the Formulation 1 household and was comfortable to see them in Bahrain.”
As questions have been requested at to how Mazepin had obtained a go, consideration turned to Oakes, who denied that it was him.
“Sure. I’ve mentioned hiya to him, I have never met him,” he mentioned. “Sure, he is a buddy of mine, sure I was along with him in Hitech.
“He was right here catching up with one other buddy of his,” he added. “It is good to see him. I am not going to enter that, the world’s a loopy place”.
And it subsequently bought a bit of crazier.
Certainly, we’re questioning how Drive to Survive will deal with this… it has all of the makings of a mini-series of its personal.
