Next turn in poker about super talent Oscar Piastri. As the English media found out, the youngster does not have a valid contract with the Alpine Formula 1 team for 2023. The way to McLaren would be (almost) free. Daniel Ricciardo’s severance payment is said to be being negotiated there, and he can probably expect a full payday.
The “Silly Season” of Formula 1 has its next spectacular turnaround. After Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer announced that if necessary he would take Oscar Piastri to court and thus force the fulfillment of the contract, the result was that the super talent did not have a valid contract with the French racing team. that reports”racingnews365“.
The portal claims to have learned from well-informed sources close to the racing team that Piastri never signed a contract with Alpine’s Formula 1 team. Although the Australian signed a new contract in November 2021, he concluded this with the “Alpine Academy”, the French young talent forge, and not with the Formula 1 team.
According to the report, the contract stated that Alpine had the option, under certain conditions, to bring Piastri into its own Formula 1 team in the 2023 season. Those terms included a set number of test kilometers, funding his expenses, and being promoted to replacement driver 2022.
It is not clear whether Alpine has fully met these conditions, but it does not seem to matter to Piastri himself. The 21-year-old claims that he signed his contract with the “Alpine Academy” and not with the “Alpine F1 Team”.
Interesting: According to “racingnews365”, the so-called Contract Recognition Board (CRB) of the FIA, the place where contracts between drivers and teams are checked and registered, had no notification of a valid Piastri contract with the “Alpine F1 Team”. Thus, neither McLaren nor Alpine were informed by the CRB of possible breaches of contract when McLaren reported the Australian’s contract to the CRB a few days ago.
McLaren is already negotiating Ricciardo’s severance package
At McLaren they are said to be on the verge of terminating Daniel Ricciardo’s contract a year before it expires. Talks between the parties are already underway, according to “racingnews365” there is a settlement of 21 million US dollars for the Australian. A sum that is well above his annual salary (approx. 15 million US dollars) at the British racing team.
Should Piastri, Alpine and McLaren not be able to reach an agreement out of court, the posse will probably drag on for several weeks. But that probably didn’t change anything at the end of the poker game. “Racingnews365” claims that in the event of a victory in court, the French would probably accept financial compensation and would not insist on the fulfillment of the contract.
Oscar Piastri would therefore sit in the McLaren in the coming season. Until then, as the last few days have shown, there are still a few hurdles to be cleared.