Oliver Oakes Explained

Oliver Oakes
Nationality: British
Birth Date:11 January 1988
Birth Place:Norfolk, England
Prev Series:British F3
Formula 3 Euro Series
International Formula Master
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC
Formula BMW UK
Formula BMW ADAC
FR2000 UK Winter Series
Prev Series Years:200809
2008
2008
200607
200607
2006
2006
2005
Last Series:GP3 Series
Last Finish:28th
Years Active:2010
Teams:ATECH CRS GP
Starts:16
Wins:0
Poles:0
Fastest Laps:0
Best Finish:28th
Year:2010

Oliver "Oli" Oakes (born 11 January 1988) is a British former racing driver, entrepreneur and team principal and director of Hitech GP.[1] In July 2024 he was announced as Alpine F1 Team Principal for the remainder of the 2024 season onwards.[2] He was the 2005 World Karting champion,[3] and was once a part of the Red Bull Junior Team.

Oakes moved into team management when he set up his first karting team in 2011 before launching junior single-seater racing team Hitech GP in 2015.[4]

Biography

Early life

Oakes was born 11 January 1988, the son of Billy Oakes, the founder and owner of the former Formula Renault and British F3 team Eurotek Motorsport. He was educated at King's Ely.[5] He began karting at age 4.

Racing career

Beginning his racing career in karting, Oakes was twice British Open Champion[6] at the age of 12. His karting career ended after winning the Karting World Championship in 2005 at 17 years of age.[7] His performances saw him attract the attention of the Red Bull Young Driver Programme, alongside Formula 1 graduates Sebastian Vettel, Brendon Hartley, Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi.

Moving to car racing in 2006, Oakes debuted in Formula BMW with Carlin Motorsport, where he took pole and the victory in his first race. Further claiming 3 podiums and a string of strong results, he finished the season in 6th overall in the Formula BMW UK Championship.[8] He was nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.[9]

In 2007, Oakes joined Motopark for the 2007 Formula Renault Eurocup season in which he finished 12th.

Oakes joined Eurotek Motorsport to compete in the British Formula 3 Championship in 2008, taking pole position at the final round at Donington.[10]

He moved to Carlin Motorsport for his 2009 campaign,[11] but left after two rounds.[12] Oakes took up test-driver roles for the rest of 2009 and raced in the GP3 Series in 2010 for Atech CRS, finishing 28th in the championship.[13]

Post-racing career

Since 2010 Oakes has been involved in various team roles[4] whilst maintaining an ongoing affiliation with Tony Kart.[14]

Team Oakes Racing

Team Oakes is a karting team and management service founded in 2011. Former drivers include Callum Ilott,[15] [16] Marcus Armstrong,[17] [18] [19] Nikita Mazepin[16] and Clement Novalak.[20] [16] Team Oakes have competed in WSK Championship Events, the German DKM Series and the CIK-FIA World and European Championships.[21] [22]

Hitech GP

See main article: article and Hitech Grand Prix. Hitech GP was formed in early 2015 with David Hayle who previously formed Hitech Racing in 2003. Hitech currently competes in the FIA Formula 2,[23] FIA Formula 3[24] and F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA[25] as well as managing the racing operations of W Series[26] and the FIA Motorsport Games.[27]

Alpine F1 Team

Oakes was announced as the Team Principal of Alpine F1 Team following the departure of Bruno Famin in August 2024. He will lead the team for the rest of the 2024 season and 2025 Formula One World Championship.[28]

Racing record

Career summary

SeasonSeriesTeamRacesWinsPolesF/LapsPodiumsPointsPosition
2005Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter SeriesTeam AKA?????2615th
2006Formula BMW UKCarlin Motorsport1812?41486th
Formula BMW ADACADAC Berlin-Brandenburg20000025th
Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European CupMotopark Academy200002627th
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0Cram Competition600000†NC†
2007Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European CupMotopark Academy1400051914th
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.01400103212th
2008British Formula 3 International SeriesEurotek Motorsport1001001*19th*
International Formula MasterEuronova Racing20000041st
Formula 3 Euro SeriesCarlin Motorsport200000†NC†
2009British Formula 3 International SeriesCarlin Motorsport40000718th
2010GP3 SeriesATECH CRS GP160000028th
† Oakes was a guest driver and ineligible for points.
* Oakes was an invited driver in rounds 9–11 and thus was only eligible for points in rounds 2 and 8.

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Oliver Oakes. 2020-02-12. Hitech GP. en. 2020-05-18.
  2. Web site: Alpine announce Oliver Oakes as new Team Principal . 2024-07-31 . Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website . en.
  3. Web site: Oliver Oakes Karting World Champion Interview. www.karting1.co.uk. 2020-05-18.
  4. Web site: How Hitech GP became the newest force in Formula 3. Wood. Elliot. 2019-10-02. Formula Scout. en-US. 2020-05-18.
  5. Web site: King's Ely. Kitchen. The Web. King's Ely. en-GB. 2020-05-18.
  6. News: Eason. Kevin. Wheldon graduates at the top of class of 2005. . en. 2020-05-18. 0140-0460.
  7. Web site: Oliver Oakes Racing career profile Driver Database. www.driverdb.com. 2020-05-18.
  8. Web site: Formula BMW UK 2006 standings Driver Database. www.driverdb.com. 2020-05-18.
  9. Web site: Oakes to miss Rockingham races - F3 - Autosport. Anderson. Ben. Autosport.com. en. 2020-05-18.
  10. Web site: Mighty Oakes grows reputation with pole and best finish to date - automobilsport.com. www.automobilsport.com. 2020-05-18.
  11. Web site: Oli Oakes: 'No excuses' in 2009. 2009-04-10. Crash. en. 2020-05-19.
  12. Web site: Oakes to miss Rockingham races - F3 - Autosport. Anderson. Ben. Autosport.com. en. 2020-05-19.
  13. Web site: GP3: Oakes confirmed at Atech CRS. 2010-04-19. Crash. en. 2020-05-18.
  14. Web site: How Hitech GP became the newest force in Formula 3. Wood. Elliot. 2019-10-02. Formula Scout. en-US. 2020-05-26.
  15. Web site: Deutsche Kart Meisterschaft: Exciting DKM-finale in Genk. www.kart-dm.de. 2020-05-26.
  16. Web site: Why does Novalak, a French-Swiss racer, drive under a British Licence?. FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. en. 2020-05-26.
  17. Web site: Armstrong to call Europe home in 2015. Speedcafe. en-US. 2020-05-26.
  18. Web site: Ferrari F1 juniors tipped for Prema seats in new FIA F3 series. Simmons. Marcus. Autosport.com. 21 November 2018 . en. 2020-05-26.
  19. Web site: Marcus Armstrong: Ferrari's quick Kiwi taking Europe by storm. Allen. Peter. 2018-07-13. Formula Scout. en-US. 2020-05-26.
  20. Web site: Karter Clement Novalak to contest 2018 Toyota Racing Series. Allen. Peter. 2017-10-17. Formula Scout. en-US. 2020-05-26.
  21. Web site: CIK-FIA Karting World Championship - Junior 2018 standings Driver Database. www.driverdb.com. 2020-05-26.
  22. Web site: CIK-FIA European OK Junior Championship 2018 standings Driver Database. www.driverdb.com. 2020-05-26.
  23. Web site: Hitech Grand Prix. FIA_F2® - The Official F2® Website. en. 2020-05-26.
  24. Web site: Hitech Grand Prix. FIAFormula3® - The Official F3® Website. en. 2020-05-26.
  25. Web site: TEAMS & DRIVERS / Dragon HitechGP - F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA. www.f3asia.com. 2020-05-26. 28 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190528104911/http://www.f3asia.com/TEAMS%26DRIVERS/Dragon%20Hitech%20GP/. dead.
  26. Web site: Hitech. W Series. en-US. 2020-05-26.
  27. Web site: Further details of FIA Motorsport Games revealed. 25 July 2019. FIA Motorsport Games. 26 May 2020.
  28. Web site: Alpine announce Oliver Oakes as new Team Principal . 2024-07-31 . Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website . en.