Damon Hill has predicted Flavio Briatore will be the last man standing at Alpine after a week of change.

Jack Doohan’s demotion in favour of Franco Colapinto came just a day after Oliver Oakes’ surprise departure, leaving Briatore to return to the team principal role he vacated 17 years ago.

Damon Hill makes Alpine future prediction

Briatore’s return last season seemed controversial enough but his assumption of the team principal role brings back memories of him in the same position and using it to tell one of his own drivers to crash.

The affair, dubbed Crashgate, remains one of the biggest stains in F1 history but with an initial lifetime ban overturned by the courts, Briatore is back at the helm once more.

Hill was left shocked by the sudden departures and made a prediction about who may be the last man standing.

“This is a joke, right?” he tweeted following Oakes’ departure. When Alpine confirmed the news, he tweeted again saying: “Apparently not!”

Hill later predicted: “My guess is Flav will be the last one.”

Since returning to the sport in 2016, Alpine, and Renault before them, have had a number of different men overseeing the team.

Fred Vasseur spent a season as team principal before Cyril Abiteboul assumed control. The Frenchman left as the team changed to Alpine as Marcin Budkowski came in.

He was then replaced by Otmar Szafnauer with Laurent Rossi acting as CEO before both were removed in 2023. Bruno Famin moved in but he was undermined with Briatore’s return, leading to Famin’s exit a month later and the hiring of Oakes.

Oakes’ recent resignation was initially assumed to be related to the decision to swap Doohan and Colapinto but it came to light on Thursday that he left just a few days after his brother William Oakes was arrested and charged with “transferring criminal property.”

On the track, Alpine have been on a steady downward trajectory going from P4 in 2022 to ninth this season having scored just seven points.

Before the news of the arrest broke, Briatore was keen to clarify that Oakes had not been sacked due to any disagreement.

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“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,” Briatore wrote on social media.

“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 together.

“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.

“I will continue to be more and more involved with the team, together with the strong management we already have in place. We will work hard on improving our position this season and preparing for 2026.”

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