Documents show eye-opening Hitech changes as Oliver Oakes Alpine rumours intensify
Early predictions will not have made for good reading for the Enstone team.
Oliver Oakes has been hotly tipped to be the next Alpine team boss, with the British team founder lodging changes at his own business interests.
Alpine has no confirmed team principal for the second half of the 2024 season, with Hitech GP founder Oliver Oakes understood to be the leading candidate for the vacant role.
Oliver Oakes makes Hitech GP changes
Alpine and incumbent team boss Bruno Famin confirmed that he will no longer be team boss by the time F1 resumes after the summer break, with Famin stepping into a different role within the organisation as he heads up the transformative project underway at Viry-Chatillon, Alpine’s current engine department headquarters.
With a new leader needed, PlanetF1.com understands from several sources that Hitech GP founder Oliver Oakes – whose teams race in Formula 2 and Formula 3 – is set to succeed Famin in the role.
The announcement from Alpine and Famin coincides with the exact day that Oakes lodged several changes to the ownership structure of Hitech Grand Prix Ltd, July 26th.
Having previously been managed by a holding company, Oakes’ changes now list him as owning and controlling more than 75 percent of Hitech GP – this had previously been held by a holding company, Hitech Global Holdings Ltd.
As first spotted and reported on by Australian publication Speedcafe.com, the change in ownership structure now gives Oakes significant control of Hitech Grand Prix, holding 75 percent or more of the shares and voting rights, and the right to appoint or remove a majority of the board of directors.
Under the previous structure, the holding company could be used to create a legal separation between a business’s assets and its owners, aiding in the reduction of some liabilities and taxation.
The changes Oakes make it easier for him to control the future of Hitech in terms of a sale or a succession plan, should he be taking up a new challenge elsewhere.
Hitech was amongst the applicants to apply to join F1 when the FIA held a tender for expressions of interest for burgeoning F1 teams, with Hitech’s bid backed by billionaire Vladimir Kim – the application did not pass the FIA’s stress tests, with Andretti’s effort the only successful applicant to make it past the FIA stage.
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When might Oliver Oakes be announced at Alpine?
With Oakes not a certainty for the role, Famin was reluctant to comment on the identity of his successor at Alpine and also said that it’s not his place to say when the person might be announced by the Enstone-based squad.
“It’s not to me to talk about, to answer that first question, at least,” he said when asked about the identity and possible timeline.
“After, I think for the timeline, the timeline is what I said. We need to finish the social process in Viry, and it can take one week, it can take two months.
“We will need to finish that process and after I think the soonest will be the best for the team, of course, because everybody in Enstone needs to know how to design and with what to design the 2026 car, for sure.
“Very good people there as well, very constructive co-operation with them and that’s for the timeline.”
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