First his dispute with Alpine, then waiting for the decision of the “Contract Recognition Board” (CRB) and finally the signature at McLaren: Oscar Piastri has turbulent weeks behind him. A phone call was particularly important, the future Formula 1 driver revealed.
Oscar Piastri inherits at McLaren for the 2023 season – of all people – his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo. The eight-time Grand Prix winner was sawed off by the racing team a year before the end of his contract, and the future of the 33-year-old is still open.
At the end of August, Ricciardo made it public that he had not been in contact with the Piastri camp, which led to speculation about a possible dispute. Finally, it came out a little later that Piastri had already signed his McLaren contract at the beginning of July, Ricciardo had known nothing about any of this.
This fact gave the 21-year-old Piastri a headache, as he now says in the podcast “In the Fast Laneconfessed: “I was going to report to him myself. But the timing wasn’t right, he was at the race and to be honest I didn’t know if he wanted to hear from me. I thought about what to say to him, but he beat me to it.”
Piastri praises Ricciardo – “Relief” after McLaren signature
After the Dutch Grand Prix in early September, Ricciardo took the initiative and called Piastri to congratulate him. “It was a really great thing that Daniel got in touch, according to the upcoming F1 driver. Ricciardo is “a real professional. My respect for him was already very high and the way he reacted only increased it.”
Basically, Piastri has gone through a great emotional journey in the past few weeks. The first feeling after the Contract Recognition Board approved his move from Alpine to McLaren was “relief”. “There were a lot of feelings involved.”
Last but not least, the young Australian fulfilled a lifelong dream with the signature: “I’ve been working towards this since I started racing a long time ago.”
Oscar Piastri was admitted to the Renault Sport Academy in 2020 and drove in parallel, first in Formula 3 and then in Formula 2, where he won the championship in each case. In the current season he is a reserve driver at Alpine.