There were many rumors about the alpine deduction of team boss Oliver Oakes, but the Briton himself, as well as successor Flavio Briatore, denied all speculation about a dismantling as a reason for the departure – rather, Oakes called “personal reasons”.
A day later, this reasoning is now getting tragic features, because now it should be clear why the Alpine team boss asked with immediate effect to resign: Oake brother William was arrested in England on Thursday, May 2, with “a large number of cash”!
According to information from the “Telegraph”, the 37-year-old was arrested last Thursday in the Silverstone Park area in the English county of Northamptonshire. The Metropolitan Police then accused charges of suspected money laundering.
As a spokesman for the police confirmed, William Oakes was taken up with “a large amount of cash”, two days after his arrest, finally demonstrated to the district court in Northampton and then in custody.
At that time, Oliver Oakes was with the Alpine team at the Formula 1 racing weekend in Miami, but after the Grand Prix, the events at the French race stable, which first communicated the Oakes departure and the takeover of the team boss post by Briatore, also conveyed the exchange between the two pilots Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto.
Is the alpine team involved?
Thereupon, wild speculations about Oake’s resignation had flared up, which he already referred back in the announcement on Wednesday: “The reasons are not in the team itself, but are personal in nature,” said the Brit.
The crime thriller around his brother inevitably brings the background to light.
William Oakes is also no stranger to motorsport, thanks to his role as the owner of the Formula 2 team Hitech Grand Prix. In 2022, the Briton took over the management of the team after founded a new company that had taken over the majority shares of Dmitry Mazin- the father of the former Haas pilot Nikita Mazepin.
The share of shares was only three days after Mazepin – a close confidante of Vladimir Putin – was sanctioned by the British government in the course of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
So far, Alpine has not commented on the William Oakes case, since this is not related to the Formula 1 team.