Oliver Oakes resigned from his place as crew principal of Alpine simply days after his brother and fellow Hitech Grand Prix director William was arrested in England.
William Oakes is listed as a director of racing crew Hitech Grand Prix on the UK’s Corporations Home filings, a place he holds alongside his older brother Oliver who resigned from Alpine on Tuesday. The Telegraph first reported that the youthful Oakes was arrested within the Silverstone Park space – the place the Hitech crew is predicated – on Friday 2 Might, 4 days earlier than Oliver left his function with instant impact.
“William Oakes, 31, of Rugby was charged with transferring legal property on Friday, Might 2 after he was stopped within the Silverstone Park space in Northamptonshire on Thursday, Might 1, 2025 in possession of a considerable amount of money,” a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police instructed The Telegraph. “He appeared earlier than Northampton Magistrates’ Court docket on Saturday, Might 3, and remanded in custody.”
Oliver Oakes’ resignation from Alpine was described by the 36-year-old as “a private determination” in a joint assertion alongside Flavio Briatore, who was shifting to dismiss assumptions that it was associated to a disagreement over modifications to the crew’s driver line-up. Franco Colapinto was confirmed rather than Jack Doohan for the subsequent 5 races lower than 24 hours after Oakes’ resignation was introduced.
“Lots has been mentioned previously 24 hours incorrectly associating the choice of Oli resigning to an alleged disagreement, or that we shared completely different views,” Briatore mentioned. “That is utterly false and much from the reality.
“Me and Oli have an excellent relationship and had long-term ambitions to drive this crew ahead collectively. We respect Oli’s request to resign and have subsequently accepted his resignation. The explanations aren’t associated to the crew and are of a private nature.”
Oakes’ Hitech crew had beforehand been majority owned by Dmitry Mazepin, with 75% of the shares held through Bergton Administration Restricted, however these shares have been relinquished to Oliver Oakes in February 2022. Oakes change into the only shareholder at the moment, lower than two weeks earlier than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that resulted in quite a few oligarchs – together with Mazepin – being sanctioned.
A brand new firm – Hitech Grand Prix Holdings – was created to take management of the shares a month later, however Oakes regained the total shareholding from the corporate in July 2024, shortly earlier than being confirmed as Alpine crew principal.