Esteban Ocon launches scathing attack on old team as F1 world rallies around axed Aussie Jack Doohan

Alpine have had a busy few weeks in the news.

First came the announcement team principal Oliver Oakes had quit – the circumstances around which were muddied further when news broke of his brother's arrest days earlier – to be effectively replaced by the man responsible for arguably the sport's biggest cheating scandal.

Then hours after that announcement came confirmation of the worst-kept secret in pit lane, Aussie Jack Doohan would be replaced by Argentinian reserve driver Franco Colapinto.

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Then came explosive comments from McLaren team boss Zak Brown who accused the team of trying to "bully" Oscar Piastri into driving for them in 2023.

Speaking to media this week, Pierre Gasly, the other Alpine pilot, said there was "quite a lot of questions to answer before the weekend".

Officially, Doohan has only been "rotated" out of the seat with Colapinto for the next five races, although few expect him to be in the seat again.

At Imola, he will sit on the sidelines as Alpine's "priority" reserve driver.

It's a no-win situation for everyone involved. Doohan has been far from poor, and in any other situation it's hard to see him being replaced.

On the other hand, Colapinto has done nothing wrong either. Every race car driver dreams of being in F1, and will do everything they can to make the dream come true.

The grid's reaction

At Imola, former Alpine driver Esteban Ocon – whom Doohan replaced in his F1 debut at Abu Dhabi last year – was scathing of his old team.

"Unfortunately, not really any surprise from some of the decisions that have been taken recently by the team," Ocon, who now drives for Haas, said.

"I don't have much to say. Obviously, sad for Jack. I'm sure he'll be back in F1 at some point.

"He showed some really strong moments this year where he qualified super well and he's also been super quick in the car, which was good to see.

"On the other hand, Franco also deserves to be in F1. Last year he showed some great things with the Williams car.

"Unfortunately, there are not enough cars on the grid to fit all the talents that are out there. But yeah, not much more to say. I'm happy where I am."

Fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri said it was a "tough situation all round".

"It was a short time in F1 for Jack. Franco's coming in with these five races, which is also not easy circumstances to come back into F1," he said.

"For Jack, he can be proud of what he's achieved – he still became an F1 driver and no one can take that away from him.

"It's a difficult situation, but it's not really for me to comment on now."

Liam Lawson said he believed Doohan had done enough to earn a spot on the grid.

"I spoke to Jack, obviously for him it's very tough ... I think he showed enough to stay in Formula 1," the Kiwi said.

"Unfortunately it's very cut-throat, but ... I think he did enough for sure, even before F1 he did enough to be in F1 in the first place, and he's done enough in F1 to deserve to come back.

"But with 20 seats, it's very, very tough. Every team makes their own decisions, so there's not really much more to say."

The week that was

The announcement of Oakes' resignation, which came with immediate effect, also carried confirmation his responsibilities would be passed on to the team's executive advisor Flavio Briatore.

Having first entered the sport in the late 1980s, Briatore is one of the biggest characters in the paddock, but not always for the best reasons.

You can read more on Briatore and his controversies in F1 here.

Hours after Oakes' resignation came the formal confirmation Jack Doohan had lost his seat.

The timing of the Doohan news led many to draw a short bow that the two were connected. Oakes had publicly backed Doohan, while Briatore was the one who put Doohan's future under a cloud in the first place.

Oakes had been at the team for less than a year. He was the third principal to quit the team in two years, and the fifth in five.

But the next day, news broke Oakes' brother William had on the Friday before the Miami Grand Prix been arrested and charged with "transferring criminal property".

He was arrested at the headquarters of the Hitech Grand Prix team, of which the Oakes brothers are joint directors. The team fields cars in the F2 and F3 series, which compete as support categories at F1 grands prix around the world.

By the time news of his brother's arrest broke, Oakes had already travelled to Dubai from Miami.

Hitech Grand Prix has ties with Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, who in 2020 held a 75 per cent stake in the team, which at the time was fielding his son Nikita.

Mazepin's close ties to Vladimir Putin earned him sanctions from both the UK and the European Union following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He was forced to relinquish his shares to the Oakes brothers.

This raised eyebrows not only in the paddock but in parliamentary bodies, which feared Mazepin could continue to influence motorsport through Oakes and Hitech without being sanctioned.

Hitech's participation in this weekend's F2 races at Imola remain under a cloud. The team's truck has arrived at the track, albeit stripped of all branding and painted all white.

Those investigations are continuing. Wide World of Sports is not accusing Oliver Oakes of any wrongdoing.

But the whole sage is a throwback to the 1970s and 80s where many an F1 team were run by shady characters with questionable financial backing.

While Oakes' resignation will likely mean Alpine can brush their hands of the situation, it's a murky tale the team could ill-afford.

Sitting only second last in the constructors title only a point ahead of the struggling Sauber outfit, never has a team been in greater need of a good on-track performance than Alpine.

Practice at Imola gets underway on Friday night (AEST).