Oliver Oakes might be able to lay claim to being the quickest team principal in F1, but for the meantime however, he has his work cut out in saying the same for his Alpine team.

Oakes, 36, is the latest incumbent in charge of the Enstone-based team that in recent seasons has seen it slump steadily towards the back of the grid. 

Now, though, after a period of turbulence, he is hoping that alongside Renault’s CEO Luca de Meo and Flavio Briatore, who is acting as a special supervisor to Renault’s F1 project, the trio can bring some stability and deliver an upturn in results for the beleaguered team.

Oakes has racing pedigree. His father Billy was the founder and owner of the former Formula Renault and British F3 team, Eurotek Motorsport.

He started karting at just four years old and in 2005 was crowned the world karting champion. At one point was part of the Red Bull Junior Team alongside Sebastian Vettel, Brendon Hartley, Jamie Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

When we meet in the Alpine hospitality unit, the subject of his early motorsport career quickly pops up, and he jokes that if he suggested he was the quickest team boss, then he might be getting a text message from McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown, who also continues to compete, rather sharpish.

“Sometimes I was quick,” he says when asked by Motorsport.com what went wrong with his own driving career, “but ultimately not quick enough, hence why I am on this side of the fence! I had my moments. [Red Bull motorsport advisor] Helmut Marko has been pretty brutal that I did not translate that into cars. I think he he is half-right. I did in some cars but not all of them.

Oliver Oakes, Carlin Motorsport. Formula BMW Testing, Silverstone, England

Photo by: Edd Hartley

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“I don’t know why it did not work out. Perhaps I should ask myself that and do some soul searching! When you look back to then, obviously when you were young, and there were things you could have done differently. There were some things that didn’t go your way. It is a mixture of things.

“Like everything in racing, there is not one silver bullet. But I also feel quite lucky from the other side that I did do all of that; from karting all the way up to F3 level and came out of it and achieving a dream another way.”

Oakes is referring to the Hitech GP team he set up in 2015 and now runs successfully across six different championships, including Formula 2 and Formula 3.

Having grown Hitech GP as a business and a successful team, Oakes feels he can utilise his experience as a former driver turned team owner to good effect at Alpine, where he will now focus his full attention.

He added: “Definitely having a little bit of the driving background helps, you have to be careful not to do too much, because you think it is the engineers or its the car…and its not the driver. But then you can balance that and go too much the other way.

“Actually it is kind of strange. If someone asked me today, what do I think has been the biggest help having taken this job, from my background, I think it is a mixture of all of it. 

“The driving bit was pretty decent but I was lucky my mum made me go to school. Although I used to complain like hell to her on a Monday morning and going in for 8am after I got back in the early hours from racing in Italy!

Paul Aron, Hitech Grand Prix

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

“And then also building and growing my own company, from the business side; those six teams, 100 people and building that up.”If I put it all together in a mix, I feel quite fortunate that I had all of that and I guess you call it a different education. I had a racing education.”

When James Vowles took over at Williams from Mercedes, he hit the headlines for mentioning how he was shocked the team was using an Excel spreadsheet for managing more than 20,000 car parts, saying it was “impossible to navigate”.

Oakes says he has not had anything comparable during his first few months at Enstone but does admit there are areas of the campus that require some investment.

“I sort of knew different facets of it from the last couple of year,” he said. “There has obviously been a lot of change. When Otmar [Szafnauer] was here, he was a mate, so through catching up with him occasionally, you’d learn things.”I arrived without anything much predetermined because you have to take things as they come and I dare say you never really get the truth until you get down in the weeds and see it. You have to suss things out for yourself.

“But since I have been here, lots has been talked about over the years, what has been done and for what reasons. At the moment I am front foot forward and we need o push on and the past is in the past.

“Some parts of Enstone have had a lot of investment and there are some parts that are still as they were, not quite as far back as Flavio’s time, but there are a lot of good bits and a lot of bits that we can keep improving but I think actually I would not say anything like [what Vowles found at Williams].”

Oakes replaced Bruno Famin, who was only in the role for just over a year while Szafnauer also had a similarly-short stint before being axed. And the Brit’s arrival coincides during a turbulent period as Renault ceases its F1 engine operation, causing disharmony within Renault’s plant in Viry-Châtillon.

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal Alpine F1 Team, Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor, Alpine F1

Photo by: Alpine

Add into the mix Oakes will be working alongside the divisive character that is Briatore, who ran the Enstone team during its most-dominate period when it won the constructors’ and drivers’ championship with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006.The Italian’s presence will only magnify the pressure on Oakes, but he says it is “a nice pressure”.

He added: “There is pressure for myself, yes, because I don’t like walking to the back of the grid. The job comes with pressure but I think it is different…I think years back a sport’s psychologist, who told me some thing that sticks with me. Pressure is like something that comes out of the shower as water pressure.

“I actually see leading a F1 team as a responsibility. There are a thousand people who rely on you for leadership to make the right decision. That’s one word I would use, and the other is competitive. You want to be the best.I am pragmatic in that I know F1 is complexed you have a lot of big teams that are well run and have been doing it for a long time with a lot more stability than us.

“But actually, I am quite excited about that because the great thing about F1 is that you are always judged constantly and if you can do a good job, everyone sees it. I put it on myself because I want to do well.

“Having Flavio is a great help and big part of why I committed to coming on this journey. I call it the project. He pushes because he wants to see this team go back to the front of the grid and anyone know knows him knows that Enstone is his baby.

“We all have a first love in life and he would not mind me saying that. For him, it is something that he really cares about and is what attracted me to doing this, and also working with him because he is hugely experienced. He’s hugely successful whether that be in F1 or his restaurant businesses and you know that he is committed.

“Ultimately maybe right or wrongly, I sat there and tracked back looking at teams that became successful in F1 and most of the time it was because of really strong leadership at the top and that can be two, three or four people really aligned and that is normally that is the owner and the senior management of the team.When I spent time speaking to him and Luca [de Meo], you could see their passion for the project. You could see that age is a number is is pretty about what drives you.”

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal, Alpine F1 Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Oakes though, is looking to stamp his own mark on the Alpine team. Insiders have praised his openness and willingness to communicate and already there is a sense of the mood lifting within the organisation and finally a feeling that the team is finally pointing in the right direction again. 

“There are a lot of different management styles,” he says. “It is interesting because you can see a real mix today. There was a bit of a trend of entrepreneurs, guys who started their teams and then ran it. Then there was another trend of ex-engineers being team principals.

“But everybody does what best suits their background. I don’t claim to be the best engineer or the best businessman, or the best driver. 

“I am all about, ‘if we are going to be successful we need to have the best people and a good culture to empower those people’. Those are the simple things we need to get right and something Enstone did really well in the past.”

JUDE BELLINGHAM chatted with a sick child in hospital after an ex-team-mate called him out of the blue.

The England star is in Finland preparing for a Nations League game in Helsinki.

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But he took time to answer a call from his former team-mate Noah Ohio, who he played with for England Under-16s.

Ohio, who plays for Dutch Utrecht, was on international duty himself with the Netherlands national team.

Some members of the Dutch team visited a children’s hospital where Ohio asked one child who his favourite player was.

And when the youngster replied saying Bellingham, Ohio suggested the pair call the Real Madrid star.

Bellingham picked up his phone and FaceTimed with Ohio and the child, with the pair asking one another if they were okay.

Ohio did the translating and then told the child to pose for a photo holding up the phone so he was alongside Bellingham, who put his thumb up.

Bellingham, 21, often takes time to look out for youngsters having given away his England jacket to keep a child in a wheelchair warm before the match against Belgium in March.

He also donated a blanket to a young ballboy during a Spanish Cup win over Arandina last season.

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His former coach Mike Dodds who worked with Bellingham at Birmingham said of the midfielder: “He’s just a magnificent human being, he’s a role model not just for the young kids of Birmingham, now the nation.

“He’s got compassion, he’s got complete empathy for people around him. From a human perspective I haven’t got enough words to praise him with.

“He keeps in contact with me regularly – he doesn’t have to do that.

“He’s said some wonderful things about me which I’ll be forever grateful for. I think that just sums up the measure of the young man.”

Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter left the Buffaloes’ game against Kansas State late in the second quarter Saturday night after an apparent shoulder injury on a 14-yard reception.

Hunter went to the locker room and wasn’t on the field for Kansas State’s go-ahead 60-yard touchdown drive that put the Wildcats ahead 14-7 with 1:52 left in the first half.

Hunter returned to the sideline and briefly stood behind coach Deion Sanders before surrendering his helmet and again walking off the sideline with a member of the team’s medical staff.

Hunter hauled in Shedeur Sanders‘ pass on a crossing pattern for a 14-yard gain at midfield and ran full speed into safety Daniel Cobbs. He held onto the ball but signaled to the sideline that he needed a sub.

On the broadcast, ESPN said the medical team was evaluating Hunter’s right shoulder, but there was no immediate word from the Buffaloes on his injury. A press box announcement at halftime said both Hunter and wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. were questionable to return with unspecified injuries.

Hunter has rarely taken off a snap this season and is in the thick of the Heisman Trophy race.

Travis Hunter vs Ashton Jeanty: ‘They won’t give Heisman to a Boise State RB!’ | All Facts No Brakes

Keyshawn Johnson and Heisman Trophy voter Jeff Fellenzer dive into the heated debate surrounding this year’s Heisman contenders. With Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty in the spotlight, Keyshawn boldly states, “They won’t give the Heisman to a Boise State RB!”

Last season, Hunter missed three games with a lacerated liver after taking a hard hit against Colorado State.

Hunter had three catches for 26 yards and one tackle Saturday night before leaving. That gave him 49 receptions for 587 yards and two touchdowns on the season, along with 16 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble on defense.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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During a glittering Formula 1 career that for many years made him the most experienced driver ever, Rubens Barrichello enjoyed a special affinity for Monza.

Three of his 11 victories came in the Italian Grand Prix, making it statistically his most successful circuit. Of course, it helped that the Brazilian’s triumphs in 2002 and 2004 came while adorning the scarlet overalls of Ferrari.

Twenty years on from leading team-mate Michael Schumacher in a 1-2 aboard the all-conquering F2004, Barrichello will return to the track where he won his final Grand Prix for Brawn in 2009 when he races a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in the International GT Open championship. But the location alone isn’t the only point of significance for the 52-year-old, who won his domestic Stock Car title for a second time in 2022.

What will elevate a welcome nostalgia hit for Barrichello into something rather more special is the team he is joining. Perhaps rejoining would be a better way of putting it. Because after 32 years, he will unite with Il Barone Rampante, the outfit he raced for during the 1992 International Formula 3000 championship.

Already a rising star with the British Formula 3 championship in his back pocket, Barrichello made an instant impression on his graduation to what was then F1’s main feeder category in 1992 aboard IBR’s unmistakable yellow and purple Reynard-Judd. Slotting seamlessly into the shoes of Alex Zanardi, who had challenged for the title as a rookie during the maiden campaign for Guiseppe Cipriani’s team in 1991, Barrichello was on the podium at the first time of asking at Silverstone by finishing runner-up to Jordi Gene’s Pacific Reynard.

It set the tone for an ultra-consistent season in which he began the year with three podium finishes from as many races. A mistake-free visit to Pau, a tall order for any newcomer, netted third place and was followed by finishing second to third-year team-mate Andrea Montermini in Barcelona. At that point he led the standings, although a run of victories for Luca Badoer’s monoshock-equipped Crypton Reynard ultimately took the title out of his grasp.

Barrichello finished second to Jordi Gene at Silverstone in 1992

Photo by: Motorsport Images

A mid-season change of engine to the Mader Cosworth used by Crypton did not herald the instant success hoped for, and Barrichello ended the season without a win – albeit an impressive third in the standings. Had he returned for 1993, it’s likely he would have been the class of the field, but he had no need to do so. His performances for IBR had set him on a path to F1 with Jordan for 1993, and he never looked back.

IBR dropped off the F3000 grid in 1993, but has been revived as a vehicle for Cipriani’s own exploits in GT racing. The Italian has already clinched his third Am class title in the GT Open series run by Jesus Pareja’s GT Sport organisation and for the 2024 season finale on 19-20 October will step up to the Pro-Am class to pair up with one of his most esteemed former drivers.

Barrichello has already tested the Huracan at Barcelona ahead of what will be his category debut, although he has previous experience in GT3 machinery from winning an Italian GT round in 2022 alongside fellow ex-F1 racer Giancarlo Fisichella aboard a Ferrari 488 at Vallelunga.

“I’m really happy to race in Monza with Il Barone Rampante in the Lamborghini Huracan,” said Barrichello, whose son Fernando has raced on the GT Open support bill this season in the Euroformula Open category for Formula 3-style cars.

“I had already raced with them when we were involved in Formula 3000; obviously the team has changed category and members, but they are still an excellent team, they have already won the Am class title fighting for the podium at every race.

Rubens Barrichello celebrating winning the 2009 F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza

Photo by: Sutton Images

“Competing in Monza is always special for me, here I won twice with Ferrari and once with Brawn GP. ​​I had some wonderful moments when I competed with Ferrari and I can’t forget the tremendous support of the fans, who always followed me with affection even when I changed teams.

“I’m competing in the GT Open for the first time and so it will all be new for me. I had the opportunity to do some laps with the car in Barcelona and I have to say that I felt good. Now I can’t wait to get on track for the first tests!

“In Monza my son will also compete in the Euroformula Open, where he is currently third in the standings. It will be a busy weekend and hopefully full of satisfaction for the whole family!”

Barrichello will race a Il Barone Rampante Lamborghini Huracan GT3 at Monza

Photo by: GT Sport

England have now played 30 matches since McCullum and Stokes took control. In those games, they have scored at 4.61 runs per over, an unprecedented rate in Test cricket.

To give some context to quite how extraordinary their approach has been, the previous fastest-scoring 30-Test sequence was achieved by the almost-all-conquering Australian team in the early 21st Century, who scored at 4.00 per over from August 2001 to December 2003.

England have scored fractionally more than one run per over quicker than the second-quickest-scoring Test team since 2022 – India, who have scored at 3.60 per over, but have been accelerating of late and will provide compelling opposition for Stokes’ side next summer.

For further context, in the 30 Tests immediately before Stokes became full-time captain, England scored at 3.09 per over.

Prior to the Bazballian revolution, the fastest England had scored over 30 Tests was 3.58 per over – from May 2009 to August 2011, when Andrew Strauss’ team ascended to number one in the ICC rankings.

In the 1950s – one of England’s most successful Test decades – they scored at 2.23 per over, and 2.18 across the three Ashes triumphs in 1953, 1954-55 and 1956.

England have won 20 and lost nine of their past 30 Tests – the joint-most wins they have achieved in a 30-match sequence since the late 19th Century, although with more defeats and without the landmark series victories against elite teams that Michael Vaughan’s team secured while winning 20, and losing four, out of 30 games between 2003 and 2005.

THE proposed date for the Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois rematch has been revealed.

Dubois, 27, stunned AJ at Wembley last month.

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His monster right hand emphatically downed the Watford man in the fifth round.

And that ensured he kept hold of his IBF world title and wrecked Joshua’s dream of a spring blockbuster showdown with Tyson Fury.

But AJ looks set to get a shot at revenge with a repeat of the all-British dust-up next year.

And Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh told fans to mark their calendars because there is a provisional date in the diary for the rematch.

He revealed at the controversial Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol fight night that the plan is for Joshua vs Dubois 2 to take place on February 22, 2025.

The date is only tentatively pencilled in at this stage.

The other thing yet to be decided is the location.

Wembley hosted the initial bout but many expect the second version to be held in the Saudi desert.

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Four of AJ’s 32 fights have been in Saudi Arabia – including his rematches with Andy Ruiz Jr and Oleksandr Usyk.

Dubois, meanwhile, beat both Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.

When previously discussing the Joshua vs Dubois rematch, AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn said: “I think it would be part of Riyadh Season in Riyadh. Riyadh Season runs from October to end of February, early March.

“So anything within that period takes place in Riyadh. So yeah, it would be part of Riyadh Season if it were to happen.”

There was a suggestion that the rematch could be pushed back after the IBF ordered a fight between Agit Kabayel and Martin Bakole to decide who will become the heavyweight challenger to Dubois.

The fighters were told this week to make their availability known in the coming days, and there is even a chance the bout could take place before the end of the year.

However, it seems the IBF could sanction the AJ-Dubois rematch before ordering Dubois to face his mandatory challenger.

Dynamite Dan, meanwhile, will be keeping a close eye on the Usyk vs Fury rematch in December – knowing he could battle to be undisputed heavyweight champ next year.

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