Oakes: Alpine F1 Eyes 2025 Sacrifice for 2026 Success

Alpine F1’s Oliver Oakes outlines strategic compromises in 2025 to ensure optimal readiness for the monumental 2026 regulation overhaul.

Oliver Oakes trusts Alpine F1 to bounce back after a very challenging 2024 season. The team’s car even showed improvement towards the end of last season, which he believes could be a positive sign for 2025.

“I think we need to be pragmatic, but we also shouldn’t stick to just one plan; we need to be flexible,” Oakes said on the Beyond the Grid podcast. “There’s no magic. We simply have to ensure the team works together. We need to produce a better car.”

“In 2024, one of the key positives is that we brought performance to the car. We had a tough start to the season, but the improvements we made worked. We got it right twice. That shows we have a good group.”

The Briton acknowledges that Alpine will need to sacrifice some of its 2025 car development to focus on the massive 2026 project: “It’s a sort of compromise. Resources must go to the current car, but we also need to prepare for the registration change starting in January.”

“It’s fun to make these decisions. I think there’s still a lot of important work to be done today that will remain relevant in a year, even with the regulation changes, so we’re pushing on all fronts.”

“The rules will change, but you keep improving all the performance tools involved in car development. You must always bring performance, as regardless of regulatory changes, that’s the foundation of motorsport.”

“From my side, we obviously need to ensure we allocate enough resources to avoid falling behind on the 2026 rules, but we’re still pushing for 2025. There’s a lot left to do.”