Alpine government marketing consultant Flavio Briatore has insisted Oliver Oakes’ departure from the crew was not all the way down to any disagreement between them.
In a social media publish Briatore claimed Oakes stood down for “private” causes and revealed an announcement from the previous crew principal.
The crew introduced Oakes’ departure yesterday night, 12 hours earlier than confirming it could change Jack Doohan as considered one of its drivers from the following spherical of the championship. Briatore was lengthy rumoured to favour selling Franco Colapinto rather than Doohan.
In his post, Briatore mentioned claims of a rift between him and Oakes had been incorrect.
“Quite a bit has been mentioned prior to now 24 hours incorrectly associating the choice of Oli resigning to an alleged disagreement or that we shared completely different views,” he mentioned. “That is utterly false and much from the reality.
“Me and Oli have an excellent relationship and had long-term ambitions to drive this crew ahead collectively. We respect Oli’s request to resign and have due to this fact accepted his resignation. The explanations will not be associated to the crew and are of a private nature.”
Briatore, who returned to Alpine in his consultancy capability final yr, has taken over Oakes’ function following his departure.
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“I’ll proceed to be increasingly concerned with the crew, along with the robust administration we have already got in place. We are going to work laborious on enhancing our place this season and getting ready for 2026,” he added.
5 days in the past, Oakes dismissed claims Colapinto would replace Doohan at Imola, saying: “As it’s right this moment, Jack is our driver together with Pierre.”
The assertion issued by Briatore quoted Oakes saying: “It’s a private determination for me to step down.
“Flavio has been like a father to me, nothing however supportive since I took the function, in addition to giving me the chance. Everyone seems to be in place for 2026 and the place this crew deserves to be.”
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