The announcement of Sebastian Vettel’s retirement from Formula 1 and above all signing him as his replacement in Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonsowith his contract expiring at the end of the season with Alpine, metaphorically blew up the entire driver market with a view to 2023. Few in fact considered the transfer of the Iberian veteran away from the Enstone team, which had welcomed him back at the beginning 2021 after Alonso’s two-year distance from Formula 1. At the time of the formalization of the new Aston Martin line-up for next season, many assumed that the young and talented Australian driver Oscar Piastricurrently a reserve of the French team.
In reality, however, the last few hours are revealing a decidedly more complex situation between the parties: according to what was reported by numerous Anglo-Saxon media, in fact, Piastri would have signed together with his manager Mark Webber a pre-contract that would tie him to McLaren. In this sense, we should not forget the privileged relationship that binds Webber to the team principal of the Woking team, Andreas Seidl. In fact, the Australian had been a Porsche driver in the WEC precisely in the years in which the team was led by Seidl. The Alpine would therefore risk finding itself in 2023 without either Alonso or Piastri, the two pilots considered in a runoff with each other. Piastri would also have refused the loan transfer to Williams, which seemed to be the only option for him in the event of an Alonso renewal. The eventual transfer of the 2021 F2 champion to McLaren would open the door to a return to Enstone of Daniel Ricciardoas announced by some French media.
The real risk is that Piastri’s sporting future at a sporting level can be decided by the lawyers. The Alpine in fact intends to assert the options that, according to the team principal Otmar Szafnauer, are all in their favor for the next few years. “I am not aware of any preliminary agreements with McLaren, if any – said Szafnauer, questioned by the site Autosport, on Piastri’s intentions – but I hear the same voices heard in the pits. What I do know is that has contractual obligations towards us. And we have them towards him. And we have complied with these obligations throughout the year. These obligations will last until 2023 and perhaps even 2024, if some options are considered “. At the beginning of the year, it should be remembered, Alpine had agreed with McLaren to grant Piastri’s free loan if the positivity to Covid had prevented the former Red Bull from taking part in the first GP of the season.
#AlpinePiastriMcLaren #triangle #chaos #FormulaPassion.it