F1 LIVE | Oakes' departure not surprising and Antonelli makes costly error at Silverstone
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A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
Another day of F1 news lies waiting ahead, and we now do a quick review of the biggest stories from yesterday. It's GPblog's daily liveblog!
Is Oakes leaving Alpine surprisingly? Not at all
Unexpectedly for outsiders, Oliver Oakes immediately resigns as team principal of Alpine, to be replaced by Flavio Briatore. But as surprising as it seems, the events turn out not to be at all, as GPblog learns this Tuesday from an insider.
Alpine proves itself once again as a graveyard for team principals.Oakes has been with the French squad since last August, and initially, it seemed like a perfect marriage. The friendly Brit is an open, approachable personality, someone who was beloved within the organization. But reportedly, there was one problem in carrying out his duties, namely Flavio Briatore.
Two captains on the Alpine ship
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The Italian (75) was appointed as the Executive Advisor to the Formula 1 team by Renault CEO Luca de Meo in May last year. Briatore was given an extensive mandate; he could decide who to recruit and who to dismiss. It was also Briatore who decided that Alpine would stop its own power unit for Formula 1 and become a customer team of Mercedes.
In short, these were all tasks and decisions that would normally be made by the team principal. Oliver Oakes, who reportedly did not always see eye to eye with Briatore. For example, it was the Italian who wanted to sideline Jack Doohan in favor of Franco Colapinto before the season started. However, this did not happen, partly because Oakes had confidence in the rookie.
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Is McLaren cheating? Wolff: 'It'd be nice not to get 35 seconds over a race'
Lately there's been alleged suppositions from one team that McLaren's cooling results are not achievable only by way of airflow. Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff, has weighed in on the subject of the papaya team's superiority cooling-wise.
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McLaren CEO Zak Brown was seen carrying a water bottle around on Friday morning in Miami with a sticker that read "tyre water." A clear humorous response to the supposed investigation carried out by Red Bull using thermal cameras that allegedly found that McLaren's cooling effectivity could not be achieved with the airflow alone, suggesting foul play.
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After Brown challenged 'one team' to file a formal protest with the FIA, Red Bull team principal reminded his American counterpart that such practices were "part and parcel of Formula One."
McLaren leadership, 'good people with integrity'
Mercedes CEO, Wolff, has now joined the debate: "I think the team around Zak (Brown McLaren CEO, ed.), Andrea (Stella, McLaren team boss, ed.), Rob Marshall, these are good people with integrity.""We've in the past often said, well, let's look at whether there is something in the borderline [of the regulations], but I have no doubt that these guys stay within the rules.""It's just really good development at heart, they have understood how to manage the tyre much better than everybody else and in my opinion it's totally legit."
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