Two signed contracts. It will be up to the CRB (Contract Recognition Board) to settle the legal question, given that the matter will almost inevitably end up in court, but there is a fixed point: Oscar Piastri will not drive in 2023 for the Alpine.
The Australian jewel has definitively broken with the transalpine brand, ending up in the “conspiracy” hatched by Fernando Alonso, Flavio Briatore, Lance Stroll and Mark Webber. The two-time world champion has lent himself to a … little game that has put Otmar Szafnauer, Alpine team principal, serial “pinocchio” in a bad light, capable of denying even the most obvious things with hard determination with the media, such as his passage from Aston Martin to the Enstone team.
Fernando Alonso, Alpine F1 Team, who will move to Aston Martin next year
Photo by: XPB / James Moy Photography Ltd
Alonso in Hungary had hinted to Szafnaur that he would renew his contract with Alpine, but he still needed some time before closing the renewal. Fernando, on the other hand, waited for Piastri’s option to drive with the Alpine expire, freeing Oscar from French constraints, to formalize his passage to Aston Martin on 1 August with a two-year agreement, given that the transalpines were not willing to give it to him, putting on the table a one more option in favor of the team.
Mark Webber, Oscar’s manager, played on the side: he signed a contract with McLaren to accommodate his driver in the cockpit intended for Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian took advantage of the opportunity to get out of Alpine constraints, to bring Piastri into the field of the “enemy”: the French brand is fighting with the Woking team for fourth place in the Constructors’ World Championship and for now precedes the team headed by Andreas Seidl.
Alpine was unable to guarantee a place for Piastri if Alonso renewed his contract, but at Enstone they were ready to turn the talent over to Williams so as not to lose him. Oscar, therefore, preferred McLaren to the Grove team, but his behavior left many people in the paddock perplexed.
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal, Alpine F1
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
The mockery of the Alpine via social media is not at all liked. The French manufacturer found itself with the match in hand: team principal Szafnauer made up for a colossal fool. He had two pilots in his hand and he saw them both parade in one fell swoop. The irritation of the Renault president and CEO, Luca De Meo, is more than justified, because the transalpine brand did not deserve a whiff of the world.
However, there is a but. And it’s as big as a house. Is it right that a manufacturer, through his Academy, has believed and invested in the talent of a young driver, raising him from Formula Renault, passing through Formula 3 and Formula 2 categories that Oscar has punctually won, indeed dominated?
Not being able to guarantee a starting place for Piastri this year, Alpine has set up a test program with an F1 two years ago, to keep the “gem” in training: those who quantified the investment wrote about more than seven millions of euros spent. In short, money literally thrown away, given the epilogue of the story.
Oscar Piastri leaves Alpine after signing an agreement with McLaren for 2023
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Net of the management errors that someone will have committed and which will be held accountable to those in charge, a disturbing fact emerges: does it make sense for a brand to invest huge capital to form a champion, if it is then taken away by its direct competitor?
Raising a young person is a heavy commitment because it requires making “bets” on talents who are little more than children: Mercedes has seen it right by focusing on Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the Italian who in Formula 4 is confirming all the good things already shown in karting. For Toto Wolff, the Bolognese boy will be one of Lewis Hamilton’s heirs, but the Piastri case teaches that, perhaps, it is better to go and … get the driver he is interested in, without investing in the Academy. In this case it would be enough to have good scouts …
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