Alpine’s quest for a new F1 team boss appears to starting afresh as a major stumbling block looks to have taken a lead contender out of contention.

Following the resignation of Oli Oakes as team boss at Alpine following the Miami Grand Prix, the Enstone-based squad is seeking a new top-level manager to succeed him.

Alpine’s Steve Nielsen pursuit hits major stumbling block

Over the European triple-header since Miami, Alpine was required to submit a ‘dedicated responsible person’ for the purposes of team representation in the eyes of the FIA.

While Renault executive advisor Flavio Briatore has acted as the public face and the leader of the team through the last three races, it was Dave Greenwood, racing director, who was submitted to the FIA for administrative purposes.

With there being no intent from Briatore nor Alpine to push the 75-year-old Italian back into the team principal role – a role he held at Enstone for almost two decades between 1991 and 2009 through its Benetton and Renault guises – the quest to find a new person to succeed Oakes in the role has begun.

As reported by PlanetF1.com last week, it’s understood that Steve Nielsen, currently an F1 consultant after holding roles as sporting director for both F1 and the FIA in recent years, had become a leading contender for the vacancy.

Nielsen, a long-time veteran of Enstone after two separate stints under Briatore, is believed to have met with the Italian over the Spanish GP weekend to discuss the possibility of joining Alpine.

While conversations appear to have been positive, it’s been suggested to PlanetF1.com Nielsen’s potential appointment hit a stumbling block as a result of being unable to take up the role immediately.

Due to his current status as a consultant to F1, Nielsen would likely be required to see out a period of gardening leave to cover him until at least the end of his current contract – a requirement which would likely see him sidelined until, at least, the end of 2025.

Movements from Formula 1 and the FIA back into competition aren’t unusual – Pat Symonds recently returned to action with Cadillac after serving as F1’s chief technical officer, serving gardening leave in the process, while Racing Bulls’ CEO Peter Bayer spent most of 2022 on gardening leave after serving as the governing body’s Secretary General.

While Nielsen’s F1 knowledge would be more commercial-based than on the technical side, such as areas of team intellectual property or adjudication, the advantage of having him come on board immediately would offer a team key insights into strategic topics.

It’s been suggested that F1 is keen not to upset rival teams and that a gardening leave period of between three to six months would be sought by said rivals, if Alpine pushes ahead with seeking to sign Nielsen in a senior management role.

While the obvious vacancy for Nielsen to fill would be that of the team principal role, it’s not clear if this is the exact role that was offered to him, and that his exact job title – if a role is accepted – could be something more akin to a team representative (ala Alessandro Alunni Bravi at Sauber in recent years) or an executive director (such as Marcin Budkowski held at Alpine in 2021).

Should the gardening leave requirement be off-putting for Alpine, it would mean evaluating other candidates.

One name that has been speculatively linked with joining Alpine is current Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, with some suggestions that the British executive could be tempted by way of a shareholding in the Enstone-based team. However, this suggestion is understood to be without basis in fact and, like Nielsen, would see Horner serving gardening leave.

Even if Horner could be tempted away from Red Bull, his lengthy contract – his current deal runs until the end of 2030 – would mean he would likely have to serve a longer garden leave period than Nielsen, as well as potentially incurring other penalties for an early contract split.

F1 2025 driver head-to-heads

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Another name linked with the vacancy has been Julian Rouse, Alpine’s current sporting director.

Rouse’s motorsport experience includes working as Arden Motorsport’s team manager and race engineer, establishing their GP3 programme which went on to win the titles in 2012 and ’13. He has also served as a team manager at Fortec Motorsport, as well as overseeing all of Arden’s racing activities across GP2, GP3, F4, and WSR.

However, Rouse is not believed to be a leading candidate at this time.

With Alpine’s hands seemingly tied by the fact gardening leave requirements will likely sideline many currently employed or contracted individuals, an internal promotion or signing someone not currently on the grid is the fastest way for Alpine to fill any gaps in its management.

This could suggest that, while currently an interim solution, Greenwood may be the most straightforward candidate to secure.

Nielsen’s emergence as a candidate coincided with two recent F1 team bosses seemingly being ruled out of contention.

Former Haas F1 team boss Guenther Steiner may be available, but PlanetF1.com understands that Alpine has not approached him about a role, while this publication has also learned that former F1 team boss Otmar Szafnauer has not been approached about a possible return.

Speaking about the hunt for a new team leader as Alpine raced with Greenwood as its official representative during the European triple-header, Briatore re-iterated the desire to make the right choice for Enstone as he seeks to turn Alpine’s fortunes around.

“We’re looking. For the moment, nothing changed,” Briatore told media, including PlanetF1.com, over the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

“I feel sorry for Oli, honestly, because I had a very good relationship with him. He was a good team principal. Everybody knows for personal reasons he stopped and resigned from Alpine.

“We’re looking. We don’t want to make any mistakes. I’m prepared to take some time. But the moment we decide what is the new team manager, put in this way, we’ll tell you.”

With Alpine seemingly not in any hurry to make a decision, Nielsen could therefore be kept on the back burner while the team keeps a watching brief on whether current Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur becomes available.

Italian media has suggested Vasseur’s role as Ferrari team principal could be under scrutiny, with WEC boss Antonello Coletta suggested as a replacement for the F1 team.

According to Corriere dello Sera, ‘the French boss [Vasseur] has been asked to account for the unsatisfactory performance, his position is no longer so firm, he is accused of knowing little about the internal environment.’

Coletta has seen Ferrari through to back-to-back victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the team chasing a third successive success this weekend.

According to the publication, Coletta has been in the running for the Ferrari F1 team principal role but has in the past declined it, and he ‘reiterated this again recently’. But should Ferrari win Le Mans, again, he is at the ‘top of the list if Vasseur were to part company’.

Vasseur has previous experience with the Enstone-based squad, having been team boss upon Renault’s return to team ownership of the former Lotus squad in 2016. He resigned after that season, following disagreements with managing director Cyril Abiteboul.

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