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Pierre Gasly believes Alpine’s transition to new Team Principal Oliver Oakes post-summer break will be a smooth process. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, in Zandvoort ahead of the 2024 Dutch GP, the French driver felt confident that the former British racing driver brings his unique share of experience and success to the team, despite his age.
Alpine announced Oakes as a replacement for Bruno Famin over the summer break, after the various organizational shake-ups that have been in the works since the commencement of the 2024 season. Oakes was previously a Team Principal with Hitech GP and formerly a Red Bull junior driver. With several changes, including teammate Esteban Ocon’s departure, Pierre Gasly is confident that the transition will not be challenging. Speaking of the transition, the 28-year-old felt confident it would be a smooth process.
Asked by Sportskeeda if a new Team Principal mid-season was going to be challenging or a seamless transition, Pierre Gasly said:
“No. I think it's going to be a process, of course. I'm not really worried because we obviously know this season, we’re not fighting for much to be fair, and I have a much more kind of longer, like sort of more looking at 2025 and 2026. So I think it gives us time to make a few adjustments and make sure that he's got time to settle in. And we still got time to actually impact the performance of next season and 26. So yeah it's going to take some time obviously for him but I'm confident it will go smoothly.”
Asked about the unique experience Oakes brings in compared to the two previous men in the job, Pierre Gasly replied:
“Knowing Oli I know he's very objective, being a driver himself as well. He can understand both sides from the driving point of view, a driver side of things, and also more like a management type of thing. So I think it's going to be definitely very interesting to work with him and he’s been proven to do some very good stuff over the last few years and there's no surprises he got this opportunity. From this weekend, looking forward to work with him.”
Pierre Gasly believes driver feedback will be important for Oliver Oakes to get a better understanding of Alpine
Pierre Gasly believes it is important for Oliver Oakes to get detailed feedback from the drivers as it will give him a better overview of Alpine. He felt that it would be important to give feedback from a driver perspective on what needs improvement in the team and what can be worked upon over the next few weeks. The Alpine driver has expressed his desire to build the team around him in the past, despite the internal organizational shakeup. He feels that driver feedback is different and a better overview compared to other personnel within the team.
Asked if he looked forward to becoming part of the process of working with the new Team Principal in terms of feedback, Pierre Gasly said:
“Well I think it's it's part of my job to obviously highlight him and give my feedback as a driver on what we do well and what we should improve. Because you know there's obviously stuff we do very well in areas where I feel we were lacking or we could be slightly more efficient and I think it's obviously going to happen over the next few weeks."
"We already discussed about a couple of things, but there is more to go in details. And I think it's important he gets the 360 degree views from everyone really involved in the team. Obviously, us as drivers are impactful on many different areas and sometimes have a slightly bigger overview, compared to some other people in the team and it's definitely going to be very important.”
Since 2021, Alpine has had a new Team Principal almost every season. Otmar Szafnauer joined the team in 2021, replacing Marcin Budkowski after leaving Aston Martin. He was replaced by Bruno Famin mid-season in 2022 when the French outfit lost both Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri. In 2024, a similar scenario has unfolded where Oakes has replaced Famin. The biggest technical departure was that of Alan Permane, who had worked with the Enstone-based team for 34 years and was sacked along with Szafnauer.
The French manufacturer that dominated the V8 era of the sport is also speculated to be reconsidering their engine program for 2026 and beyond. According to several reports, they could potentially become a customer team to Mercedes. At the moment, the second seat for 2025 alongside Pierre Gasly is being negotiated. However, due to the drastic changes over the 2024 season, many of the premium drivers on the 2025 market have been reluctant to join the team.
