Alpine boss Oakes buzzing after double podium: "Can see how much it means"
F1 News
Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes has said "you can see how much it means" to the French team after they earned a sublime double podium at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were able to hold on to P2 and P3 respectively after Oakes and the Alpine pit wall called a perfect strategy, keeping both cars out until a red flag came out, meaning they earned a free pit stop to keep themselves near the front of the grid.
In what has been a very tricky season for the French team, they moved up from ninth to sixth in the constructors' championship thanks to the double podium and the 33 points that came with it, and it is a mammoth result which could have a huge influence on the team, especially financially.
The prize money distribution in F1 is dependent on many factors. A sixth place in the final championship standings may be able to boost the economic budget of Alpine by about $30 million, highlighting how important the one race in Sao Paulo was for the French team.
The French team looked to be stuck in P9 in the constructors' standings after a dreadful year, which has seen an end to the manufacturing of their works engines by way of Renault, along with engineer strikes about a change in engine manufacturing. However, under the leadership of new team boss Oakes, there is a lot more positivity surrounding the team.
Oakes still keeping his feet on the ground despite mega result
"Since Austin, we have more pace, with this upgrade," Oakes explained after the Grand Prix at Interlagos. "Even yesterday with Pierre, it was a strong [Sprint] race. Credit to everyone today because the drivers have just said then in the debrief they didn't put a foot wrong in tricky conditions. Also strategy, those calls, everything. It was a good day. Even with the pace in the race, Esteban was very strong. Credit to Max [Verstappen]. He's impressive as well in those conditions."
Oakes is only 36 years old, a very young team boss, and he knows how big of a result it was for the team: "I was thinking this earlier, you've got to enjoy the moment, but also be humble because there's still quite a few races left, isn't there? I think more for the team as a whole, at the beginning of the season, they got a lot of mud slung at them, or a bit of stick. You can see how much it means to them."
But even though there is a positive vibe within Alpine, Oakes wants to take this momentum and run with it: "I was trying to count earlier how many weeks I’ve been here. I think it's 15, 16 weeks. When you arrive like I did just before shutdown, they'd just got a point in Spa and then Zandvoort was also another point. That was a good race, but then those last three races where it was tricky. Those races beyond that where we had some tough weekends where we really saw some things that are hurting us at the moment.
"It was quite nice, I dare say, getting to Austin [with the updates] and seeing some performance. We have to feel confident for the remaining races, but also humble that it’s really competitive in that midfield. You can see that every time you go on track," Oakes concluded.
This article was created in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
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