Oliver Oakes doesn’t want to be biased in talking about Paul Aron but he praises his mental strength, as doesn’t feel fair to comment on Victor Martins.
Prior to his Alpine F1 team principal role, Oakes had been running Hitech GP for years. He took upon Aron in the F2 programme after his departure from Mercedes programme. The Estonian showed good pace at the start of the year but couldn’t secure that elusive race victory.
He eventually got it, but it was too late in terms of a F2 championship chance in 2024. He dropped back on Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar towards the end to finish third. In the meantime, Aron was taken up by Alpine to be their reserve driver for 2025 season – pipping Martins to the job.
The Frenchman did not enjoy his second F2 season but still finished seventh. Oakes didn’t wished to be biased when talking about Aron, but he praised his mental capacity to bounce back after being dropped by Mercedes. “I’m going to be biased, to Paul because he was one of mine, aren’t I?,” he said to media.
“Look, Paul’s done a mega job in 2024 and I think as a rookie in F2, that’s really hard. I think him and Bortoleto have been the class of the field. I feel a bit sorry for him because a couple of mistakes on his side, one on the team in the Spa and then obviously [in the Abu Dhabi Sprint Race] we made his life a bit difficult as well.
“He’s been brilliant and I think again showing some mental strength to be dropped by Mercedes and then go through all of that this year and then fight for the championship all year long. He is definitely a special talent,” summed up Aron, whereas for Martins, the Alpine chief didn’t wish to say whole lot.
“Victor’s good,” said Oakes. “I’ve known him a long time. I think obviously I don’t want to comment too much on his F2 season because before I was here, I was in another team, and it’s not fair to judge what he’s going through. I think Victor’s a big part of our academy here. And obviously, I guess as I’m new to this, I’m thinking well when do they announce what they’re all doing and how it’s going to be.”
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