Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend, in only his third race in charge of Alpine, Oliver Oakes spoke Friday morning on some of the changes that will be made and challenges that could arise as the season comes towards its end.
With there only being eight races left of the longest season on record, this is the time you would usually see teams move away from the development of their current car and focus on next year’s one.
Alpine however, are planning to take an alternative route to success, as having started the season as the worst car on the grid, consistent upgrades throughout the year have managed to push the French team further up the grid, to a point now where they are consistently able to battle for points finishes.
Oakes has revealed they plan to introduce further upgrades in the remaining races, but remain wary having started on the back foot at the start of this season, they do not want to do the same again.
“We plan between now and the end of the year to bring a couple more. I think obviously as you’re aware, it’s sort of hard to balance now when you bring them a bit later, because we’re on the back foot at the beginning of the season, how valuable that is, whether you delay them a bit for the early part of next year, whether you bring them and keep them in the car.
“So there is that sort of current, call it to-ing and fro-ing internally of going, what’s the right approach? But we definitely will bring a little bit more performance between now and the end of the year.”
Alpine currently sit eighth in the constructors standings on 13 points, 21 behind 6th place RB. Behind them, Williams are only 7 points adrift.
With the gap being so few and the races remaining being so many, Oakes has made sure to keep an eye on what is directly in front and behind him as an incredibly tight midfield pack could be disrupted by a few upgrades that has the possibility to see big changes late in the campaign.
“At the end of the day we want to continue, I’d say that sort of recovery really from the beginning of the year. That midfield group is so close, a small upgrade that maybe in the past might not have been worth very much, actually half a tenth or a tenth would be the difference.”
With the introduction of the new regulations not far away in 2026, Oakes has admitted that there will likely be somewhat of a compromise with next years car as resources will need to be split between the two different cars, something Executive Technical Director David Sanchez has already been working on since joining the team in May of this year.
“Like everybody at the moment, in the world of cost cap and new rules coming, there is a compromise everywhere. I feel quite fortunate that David’s here and he was here before me, so I’d dare say he did his homework, having a look at everything they had planned, they were doing, I’d say, tweaking that slightly.
“I think the biggest challenge for everybody is not even from this year into next year, what you’re carrying over, what you want to do development-wise, it’s actually balancing January 26’ coming online as well.”
Looking back on some of the most recent major regulation changes, it has shown how crucial getting the car right for the first year can be. Examples over recent years include powerhouses Mercedes and Red Bull who in 2014 and 2022 respectively brought cars to the opening round which were far superior and set them up for years of dominance.
Something Oakes will be hoping to replicate in 2026 as he has hammered down on how crucial even the next few months will be for his team.
“I was thinking, it’s exciting for me to be here, but also this is probably now the most critical point for the team and the company for the next few years. This next six months is where we really need to get the right balance, the right priorities.”
