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

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. He began karting at age 4.

Racing career

Beginning his racing career in karting, Oakes was twice British Open Champion at the age of 12. His karting career ended after winning the Karting World Championship in 2005 at 17 years of age. 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. He was nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. 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. He moved to Carlin Motorsport for his 2009 campaign, but left after two rounds. 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.

Post-racing career

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

Team Oakes Racing

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

Hitech GP

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, FIA Formula 3 and F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA as well as managing the racing operations of W Series and the FIA Motorsport Games.

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. He achieved his first podium, and Team Enstone's first double podium since 2013, at the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix.

Racing record

Career summary

† 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)