Pierre Gasly has good words for Oliver Oakes and Flavio Briatore at the helm of Alpine, as he feels good with the work done by David Sanchez too.
After a slow start in 2024, Alpine underwent more changes which brought Oakes and Briatore in the picture, with the former taking up the team principal role, while the latter took a larger executive work. Their effect on the team will be seen in long-term seen and Gasly is positive about them.
Briatore has already thrown his weight with the hiring of Oakes and Alpine moving to become a customer outfit of Mercedes from 2026 onward. He has also signed up Franco Colapinto as reserve alongside the hiring of Ryo Hirakawa and Paul Aron in a similar role.
“It is going well with ambition,” said Gasly to media. “They have clear targets for the team, and so far, it’s a very honest and transparent relationship. They value my feedback and inputs inside the team. I want a faster car, I want to fight at the front, and I do believe there is huge potential in Enstone to get a very strong race car.
“They didn’t show it at the start of 2024, but they’ve shown that there is clearly a lot of potential in the way they’ve developed. We just need to start with a stronger base, and yeah, hopefully this year we can be told,” summed up Gasly, who also had praise for the work done by Sanchez. He moved out of Ferrari to join McLaren, but the role didn’t match his expectations.
That freed him to join Alpine in a senior technical leading role that he wanted. Considering how Alpine started and how they ended in sixth, it was a big jump after development work was set in from April onward, which bore fruit at the end of the 2024 F1 season
“So far, I’m really happy with him,” said Gasly. “Great input technically, and we have a lot of conversations. He has a lot of experience from other teams, and I think he’s a very valuable asset to the team.” On the other hand, Oakes too had good word on Alpine boss Luca de Meo, who paid a visit to Enstone to give a pep talk ahead of the 2025 F1 season.
“Yeah, no Luca, he’s on the phone as soon as the flag drops,” said Oakes to media. “He’s just been supportive and proud, I think [they] would be the two words I would really say at the moment of everything. First when I took the job of what he expected, what he was looking to see. And that wasn’t just results, it was also how the team was executing weekends and how the team was behaving amongst itself as well.
“And I think obviously the last couple of races in 2024 as well, he was just being really honest, it was great to see the team mixing it up there, and obviously those big results we’ve had, obviously he is proud because the team has been in a tough time. But I think he’s just massively supportive,” summed up Oakes.
Here’s Oliver Oakes on Paul Aron, Victor Martins
Here’s Alpine signing Franco Colapinto
Here’s Alpine securing Ryo Hirakawa
Here’s Alpine on F1 2026, Castore deal
Here’s Pierre Gasly on best moment
Here’s Oliver Oakes on Jack Doohan and his prep
Here’s Pierre Gasly on Alpine getting him excited again
Here’s Jack Doohan identifying 2025 learning parts
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