Two great drivers – one vastly experienced and a former World Champion, another widely known as one of the best young talents going forward – to none of the 2. Alpine had swiftly lost a lot in the Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo saga.
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Alpine had Fernando Alonso, an ex-World Champion as their #1 driver and Oscar Piastri as their backup for Alonso. They thought Alonso’s tutelage would provide immeasurable benefits for the young Piastri.
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But McLaren had other plans. McLaren wanted to replace the badly out-of-form Daniel Ricciardo. They saw in Piastri a driver who would suit the team and a good #2 to Lando Norris.
McLaren took what they wanted. The saga has been discussed a lot given the popularity of Ricciardo among F1 fans as well as the public nature of the dispute. But Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi believes McLaren has misled people with its statements.
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JULY 18: Third placed Oscar Piastri of Australia and Prema Racing looks on in parc ferme during the Round 4: Silverstone feature race of the Formula 2 Championship at Silverstone on July 18, 2021 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)
In an interview with Auto Motosport, he said “He was playing for a bit but told us he had an opportunity to drive for McLaren. We found that strange. Ricciardo was still there and McLaren announced on July 6 that they wanted to continue with Daniel.
As it turned out later, Oscar had already signed with McLaren on July 4th. That sounded very opaque to us. So we still assumed he had an obligation to us. We felt like he owed us something after all the preparation. After all, there is such a thing as loyalty. (Translated via Google Translate)”
Rossi’s words shed more light on a saga that has gone on for months now. No part of it has been pretty. Piastri’s entry into McLaren is far from ideal.
Daniel Ricciardo was blindsided by McLaren’s secret acquisition
Visibly the men at Alpine drew the short straw. And they aren’t one bit happy with how they were (allegedly) ‘played’ by Piastri. But Ricciardo was one more party that got injured as part of this whole clandestine operation.
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Formula One F1 – United States Grand Prix – Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, U.S. – October 23, 2021 McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo during practice REUTERS/Mike Blake
As McLaren readied to take on Piastri from Alpine, they left their own Australian injured as part of the parley. Daniel was under the impression for most of the time that he would be racing under McLaren’s colors for 2023. But as has been revealed, his contract was terminated prematurely by Zak Brown and the team.
Meanwhile, Oscar was seduced by the idea of a #2 role at McLaren – a much more significant role compared to the reserve driver role that, Rossi admits, Alpine was offering. He said “He was disappointed that we bet on Alonso and not on him straight away. And he didn’t want to drive for Williams.”
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Watch This Story: Daniel Ricciardo’s Best Moments in F1
As Rossi said, Oscar will need to show his mettle as soon as he begins his F1 career. That is going to be a big task. Only time can tell if he can do that.
