The CRB met today to consider the matter of Oscar Piastri’s contracts with Alpine F1 and McLaren, with the French team claiming the driver they trained has a contract valid for 2023 and even 2024.
On the McLaren side, we played the card that the Alpine contract did not include a firm indication that Piastri would be in a starting seat in 2023 to seize the opportunity.
Who will the CRB agree with? The situation seems complex because both contracts would be valid! There was no statement from McLaren or Alpine last night. And it’s a priori normal as confides to us Otmar Szafnauer, the director of Alpine F1.
« I think the CRB will take some time to deliberate – not a lot but a few days – and probably by the end of the week when we get to Zandvoort we will know. »
« We didn’t start talks this weekend, but we have a slate in case, and of course, after we get the verdict, we will start serious talks. »
Even if the opinion of the CRB is favorable to one or the other team, there could be a financial arrangement to put in place before making an announcement. If Alpine loses Piastri, it wants to be compensated for its training (from 5 to 10 million euros).
And even if the French team wins the battle, it is likely that the tensions arising from this case will cause the Australian to be released, again for a large sum of money. Enough to pay a penalty to Red Bull to release Pierre Gasly, who would have become the French team’s No. 1 option.
On the side of McLaren, who still refuses to pronounce the name of the Australian, we claim to have “several shots” for his 2023 duo just in case…
« We have several plans. There has been a CRB meeting – I think we will be in a better position to comment on it after the result. We have a variety of options and of course the driver in question is clearly one of them. between them or we wouldn’t be at this meeting! Let’s just see how it goes and then we’ll go from there, » said Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren.
While a CRB decision could take a number of days, Brown says there is no shortage of candidates in the lead, starting with IndyCar drivers who have already tested the 2021 car.
« I tried to get in the seat but Andreas refused me as a driver! So I am the only driver we have excluded so far! » jokes Brown, an amateur pilot in his spare time.
« We have our test program, Colton Herta did a great job, Pato O’Ward was in the car at the end of last year, he did a great job.
« Of course we have our situation with Alex Palou happening in the United States, we’ll see how it goes but we certainly intend to put him in our Formula 1, so all these drivers who have won a lot of races in a very competitive championship are an option. »
« I argue that IndyCar is at the highest level of motorsport, so I think we have a handful of options on that side. »
Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/mclaren/power-rankings-after-the-belgian-grand-prix
