Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes is unhappy with the speculation surrounding the future of his new driver Jack Doohan.
The 22-year-old starts his first full Formula 1 season this year, having made a one-off appearance for the team at the end of last season.However even before Doohan’s first race, claims spread that Alpine’s executive consultant Flavio Briatore wanted to put Franco Colapinto in his seat.
Alpine has since signed Colapinto from Williams and agreed a deal with his sponsor Mercado Libre. Briatore has promoted Colapinto’s presence, sharing video of his first test behind closed doors on social media, which was not officially distributed by the team.
Oakes, who became Alpine’s team principal in the middle of last year, praised Doohan’s focus ahead of the new season amid the ensuing speculation he might be dropped before the end of it.
“I feel for him quite a lot at the moment,” Oakes told Sky. “He’s getting a bit of flak and it’s not fair.
“At the end of the day, he’s getting his debut in F1 – I mean, he’s had his debut in Abu Dhabi, but it’s his first sort of full year. And I think it’s been a quiet winter so [for] everybody, obviously, that’s been a news story. Franco, he’s a popular kid as well, so people want to see him in the car.”
Doohan drove for the team in this morning’s test at Bahrain International Circuit.
“From my side, it’s really good to have Jack with us,” said Oakes. “He’s come from our academy. He did a good job in Abu Dhabi and even this morning he hit the ground running straight away.
“So I think credit to him as well because he’s sort of just shutting all that noise out and getting on with it, which is really good.”
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Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
26th February 2025, 13:49
Sure isn’t. But when he gets the kick, what are they going to say?
Des Mo
26th February 2025, 13:54
So Oakes says it’s not fair to speculate when someone in the team has hired a potential replacement and actively promotes him? More poor management and chaos at the Clown Team.
HAL
26th February 2025, 16:21
This… They hired another driver and clearly said Doohan would be in the car for the first few GP and then let’s see… Way to go to welcome a new driver.
Sure, pressure is always there, for every drivers. But there is a difference between the pressure of delivering and been pushed into a pit of negativity ala “we don’t really want you anymore”.
You have also to wonder how much support Doohan will receive – if the team targets sponsorship thanks to Colapinto. Will they help Doohan settling in or will they make sure performance is not there, so they have a good excuse to swap driver ?
El Pollo Loco
27th February 2025, 2:52
Yeah, only clown teams want the fastest driver in the car possible. And, of course, only a clown team would want a faster driver who also brought more $ to a team whose corporate owner is stingy. F1 fans start treating the sport like participation trophy parents? F1 is supposed to be the best of the best drivers (bar paid drivers) and the best drivers have always shown an ability to be fast right from their first race no matter the pressure. Des not Mo to it.
For such a clown team, they’ve done a pretty good job of beating half the others team in F1 for years even when in chaos. Laurent Rossi was the clown who created all the chaos that did make Renault look like clowns for two-year period, but he was finally fired.
2018: 4th
2019: 5th
2020: 5th
2021: 5th
2022: 4th
2023: 6th
2024: 6th
BasCB (@bascb)
26th February 2025, 14:09
I wonder why Oakes feels the need to talk about this in the press instead of taking it up with the source of the rumour in his own top management.
pastaman
26th February 2025, 15:26
You’ve been around this site long enough it honestly surprises me that you still think these people are just going to the press and making these statements. The vast majority of articles on this site are quotes from people being asked questions by the media, and then answering those questions.
It boggles my mind that people actually think the teams and drivers are just going around all day releasing press statements to the public unprompted.
asz
26th February 2025, 16:26
But then, why are the questions (or at least a reference to the fact that these people were actually being asked about the topic) not included in the reports?
The way it is now, someone could ask XY a whole lot of stupid questions for which the inevitable answer will be ‘no’, and some other media outlet may report it simply as “XY says no to everything”. (Because the questions themselves are seemingly of no consequence.)
pastaman
26th February 2025, 19:26
It’s a tactic to evoke reactions from gullible readers, and thus more clicks.
El Pollo Loco
27th February 2025, 2:55
Most of the time they exclude the questions and/or actual verbatim quote so they can twist the context and words to create a more provocative paraphrased quote that generates clicks. Are you new to the internet.
El Pollo Loco
26th February 2025, 17:23
Yes. Oakes had nothing to do with it. It was all Mr. Bad Guy Briatore.
The media should also assume some self-accountability. No matter the reply, they keep asking him the same question over and over and over as if he’s suddenly going to say something different.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
26th February 2025, 15:38
Its just a tad unfortunate that his surname is almost ‘Do one’ if not spelling then certainly spoken word
BenjaminS (@benihana)
26th February 2025, 17:17
The question of financial gain as opposed to getting performance that then attracts financial gain is quite a challenge for a sport of speed in a restrictive financial bubble.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th February 2025, 17:30
I still think he’ll get sacrifized eventually, & around the summer break at the latest.
El Pollo Loco
27th February 2025, 0:08
That’s a big evolution from a month or so ago when you maintained that he was guaranteed a full a season and would not be replaced mid-season.
An Sionnach
27th February 2025, 0:58
The F1 media and community should be commended for not already speculating whether he’ll be in the car in Australia. That’s quite an achievement, given how little there’s been to talk about. This is hardly the lovechild of Lewis to Ferrari and Horner.
In other news, the Lewis to Ferrari question was finally answered this week: he got into the car and drove it. Simple as that.
El Pollo Loco
27th February 2025, 4:54
lol, a pretty good summary of F1 media. A typical JD presser goes like this: five straight questions about his seat RE: FC w/a sixth question asking if he feels it’s fair he has to deal w/so much media speculation over his seat.
Typical Thursday Driver Questions Presser & Resulting Headlines Example
Reporter 1: Max, despite the fact that you’ve told us you intend to see out your contract at RBR through 2028, will you be at Aston Martin next season?
Max: No
Next Reporter: Max, have you had discussions with Aston Martin for the 2026 season?
Max: Uhhh…no.
Reporter 3: Max, given your ongoing discussions with Aston Martin and heavy speculation you may be moving to AMR, is it proving a distraction during your day-to-day to work with Red Bull?
Max: Not at all. They know I’m happy here.
Reporter 4: What do you think of Adrian Newey and AMR’s long term chances for success?
Max: Well, it’s no secret Adrian is one of the greatest F1 designers of all time and that Aston Martin has put together some of the best facilities in F1. I wouldn’t bet against them.
Resulting Headline:
An Sionnach
27th February 2025, 7:44
Good stuff! Max to Aston confirmed! If he denies it that many times, it must be true! They could pad out coverage with a feature on every time Max has “lied” to back the angle up. Add in one on Newey’s single act of treason – insisting that Max isn’t evil – and you can see that Lance and his money man father have been leaning on Newey to get Max in. That will make Lance look like the best driver in the world as, with Alonso out, he will only have to beat the talentless Max to become a multiple champion in a Newey rocketship.
El Pollo Loco
27th February 2025, 14:19
You’ve just convinced me that is actually the angle they’re playing. After all, this is the 007 F1 team. We’ll need to hit up Square Space and whip up a site (F1-Insider or Galaxy F1?) before Peter Windsor or The Daily Mail beat us to press!
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th February 2025, 7:44
Blaming the Media while the cheater is posting only pictures with the new guy and saying we will see…
Simple say Jack does the whole season and then we will see.
With this the media has nothing….
El Pollo Loco
27th February 2025, 15:53
”The cheater” could refer to half the senior engineers and bosses on the grid and basically every team, but drip fed British media boy isn’t gullible at all. Funny how Briatore isn’t even an engineer yet many of the big name engineers and bosses were on his teams, but only he’s guilty!
Maybe look at the media as to who’s to blame for these tiresome, cyclical headlines. Briatore isn’t walking around the pitlane with Colapinto on his shoulders.
Alex Peak
27th February 2025, 12:49
Or maybe Flavio wants Colapinto’s sponsorship so he can gain even more money in order to sell the team. The whole management still feels like a total mess despite plenty of good people working at Enstone.
El Pollo Loco
27th February 2025, 16:01
Still “feels?” Are you working there still. Don’t pretend like you know the atmosphere at Enstone. All you know = “Briatore bad. Bad make me sad. Chaos!” When the reality is that all the chaos was created by Laurent Rossi who is now gone. The team finally actually looks strong in testing whicb is going smoothly and the only controversy around Alpine isn’t even a controversy (Colapinto).
Unlike Rossi, Briatore is actually passionate about motorsport and knows about it. And Renault is the only one who can sell. Briatore can’t just Lance stroll in there and say I feel like selling. I’m selling it!
Alex Peak
27th February 2025, 16:55
If Oakes and Flav are at odds over something, surely that’s not a great sign. I certainly agree they look a lot better in testing than this time last year. Renault are pulling out at the end of this year and Alpine are going to Mercedes power – Renault sub-brand with Mercedes engined might not sit right with the board. Flavio obviously cares way more than Rossi and Cyril Irritable ever did but how much power Oakes actually has remains to be seen.
El Pollo Loco
27th February 2025, 22:25
Some good insights there. However, I’d ask how are Oakes and Flavio at odds? I don’t think Oakes asking the media to stop harassing Jack, whom I really like and is a super nice guy, means he’s at odds with Flavi Flav.