Alpine are set to adopt a rather unusual team principal setup at this weekend’s Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

The Enstone-based outfit arrive at Imola amid a tumultuous period which has been marked by huge changes both on and off the track.

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It all kicked off on May 6, when Oliver Oakes resigned from his position as team principal with immediate effect, with ‘personal’ reasons behind his shock departure, before it was announced that rookie driver Jack Doohan had been replaced by Franco Colapinto the following day.

Who is in charge at Imola?

Executive advisor Flavio Briatore was expected to assume team responsibility at this week’s race, but it has emerged that the fiery Italian is not the man in charge in the eyes of the FIA.

This is due to the fact that he is not regarded as a member of staff within the team, nor does he hold an F1 license, as is required of those in such positions by the FIA competitor’s registration system.

An Alpine spokesperson told BBC Sport: “Flavio came into the team as executive adviser and remains a consultant. There’s nothing more to it, or to read into it.”

Racing director Dave Greenwood has now been confirmed by the team as the ‘dedicated responsible person’ this weekend.

An FIA spokesperson said: “Alpine have complied with all regulatory requirements relating to the departure of Mr Oakes, and have submitted their updated staff registration.

“We believe it is down to Alpine to provide an update on their management structure so we will not comment on any specific person holding a certificate of registration.”

Briatore was brought in last summer in an effort to turn the strugglers’ fortunes around, having previously won multiple world championships as team boss with Benetton and Renault.

But the 75-year-old had not been seen in F1 since 2010 following a lengthy investigation into his involvement in the crash-gate scandal of the 2008 Singapore GP, which saw Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crash his Renault to benefit team-mate Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race.

What is the FIA staff registration system?

All F1 teams must submit proposals for the identity of six specific members of staff to the sport’s governing body for approval: a team principal, sporting director, technical director, team manager and two race engineers.

The FIA, however, has the right to refuse a certificate of registration if someone is deemed to be ‘in breach of the FIA code of good standing’ or ‘under disciplinary sanction’.

Some examples which may constitute an infringement include giving instructions to the driver ‘with the intention or with the likely result of causing an accident, collision or crash or a race to be stopped or suspended’, and ‘giving instructions to a driver or otherwise taking any action by which the result or course of a race may be influenced’.

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A former Formula 1 world champion has suggested that Lewis Hamilton may not be given the time he needs at Ferrari to make the move a success.

The seven-time champion joined Ferrari earlier this year, ditching the Mercedes team he had been with for 12 seasons in order to try and chase a so-far elusive eighth world championship title with the most successful team in F1 history.

However, Hamilton’s Ferrari career has not got off to the best of starts, sitting down in seventh in the drivers’ championship without having achieved a podium across six grand prix starts in 2025.

On top of this, his performances compared to team-mate Charles Leclerc have been concerning, being outqualified by the Monegasque driver on five occasions out of six so far.

Now, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has suggested that Hamilton may not be given the time and patience Mercedes gave him during his time there.

Hamilton’s last three seasons with the Brackley outfit were not the best – mainly down to Mercedes’ struggles – but there was not any talk of Hamilton being axed from his contract there, and was actually contracted until the end of 2025 before he opted for an early exit from that deal.

“You can hear that Lewis Hamilton is not happy at all,” Villeneuve told Vision4Sport. “Charles Leclerc has been stepping up more and more, and you can hear it in Lewis’ comments, ‘I’m sorry’.

“It’s like Norris, once you start doing this, you’re burnt. You lose your credibility, and people lose trust in you. They think he’s only there for the ride now.

“That’s not the right image to show to a team like Ferrari, who are so fickle. Ferrari are like a volcano, you need those fireworks. You need the passion, the spark to set things off. If you don’t have the sparks, that’s a problem at Ferrari, there’s not much time.

“At Mercedes, he was allowed to take his time. Not Ferrari. You need to be up there and bang. The sprint race in China seemed to be the spark, but no fire came out after that.”

Hamilton struggling to adapt?

Hamilton’s former team-mate George Russell recently said that Hamilton was ‘not enjoying’ his time with the Ferrari team, but backed him to turn it around and for the partnership to click.

However, stretching back to the start of the 2024 season when Hamilton was partnering Russell at Mercedes, the Brit’s qualifying record compared to his team-mates is sat at 24-6 against in the last 30 grands prix, with Hamilton beginning to adopt the negative, downbeat attitude which plagued his 2024 season.

Villeneuve believes that Hamilton needs something to kickstart his career with the Maranello outfit, and where better to do that than in the team’s home country of Italy at the upcoming Emilia Romagna Grand Prix?

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