The brother of former Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes has been granted bail after being accused of criminally obtaining £831,000. William Oakes, who was a director of British motor racing team Hitech GP, was arrested at Silverstone Park in May. He was charged with possession of large amounts of criminal property in the form of cash.
William’s arrest followed the alleged discovery of £831,885 in cash, as well as 46,120 euros (£39,407) and 10,000 dollars (£7,421), in his possession. He was initially held in custody before appearing at Northampton Magistrates’ Court two days after his arrest. Last week, he appeared at Northampton Crown Court to plead not guilty to the charges against him.
He was granted bail by Judge Adrienne Lucking, who also set a trial date of April 2027.
Shortly after his arrest, the Metropolitan Police said that William had been charged with ‘transferring criminal property’ after he was found to have been ‘in possession of a large amount of cash’. He denies any wrongdoing.
William was arrested just days before his brother Oliver stepped down as Alpine team principal. Both men were previously listed as directors of Hitech GP on Companies House. Oliver remains a director but William resigned earlier this month.
At the time of Oliver’s exit from Alpine, it was speculated that it may have been down to a disagreement with the team’s executive advisor Flavio Briatore. However, this explanation was firmly rejected by the Italian.
In a statement, Briatore said: “A lot has been said in the past 24 hours incorrectly associating the decision of Oli resigning to an alleged disagreement or that we shared different views. This is completely false and far from the truth.
“Me and Oli have a very good relationship and had long-term ambitions to drive this team forward. We respect Oli’s request to resign and have therefore accepted his resignation. The reasons are not related to the team and are of a personal nature.”
It was just one development in a hectic week for Alpine, who also confirmed that Jack Doohan had been replaced by Franco Colapinto after the first six races of the 2025 campaign.
Colapinto was initially reported to have joined Alpine on a five-race contract, but Briatore later confirmed there was ‘no set limit’ to his involvement with the team. The young Argentine is yet to score his first points, having finished no higher than 13th.