2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

I think he's gone. Sotuation is too messy to stay. It now must be a matter of how much money can Ricciardo salvage out of ths divorce

I think you're probably right, it would take some balls to see out his contract if he did have a seat guarantee, knowing the team would replace him if they could.

But if I was Danny Ric, I'd consider whether the team would be professional if he stayed (I'm sure they would) and would he be OK with the media attention, and I think he would.

But I only think that would be a consideration if there was not another decent seat on offer and his balls were feeling heavy that day. So I guess it just depends on whether Alpine try to get Gasly. If they do I cannot see DR going to Williams, TR, AT or HAAS and there will be a decision for Dan. Leave F1, drive a slower car or be belligerent and stay at Mclaren.

[Wil992]

Logic isn’t something you are familiar with it would seem.

Maybe I'm confused, but you seem to be basing Lando saying the cars are completely different and need a different driving style with saying the car is the same as before?

FFS, did you read what Lando said?

like holding the brake in some sorts of corners that you don't feel like you want to hold the brake in, and then doing the opposite in other corners.

"It's not like an obvious thing on how to drive the car in every corner."

It’s clear, the car handling is not consistent from corner type to corner type and doesn’t respond that way a driver would expect a normal race car to behave.

You’re backing up your point by taking half a sentence.

The quote you have here, the full sentence is.

“ Last year, I would say that we had more of that, and then it's not an easy thing to adapt to that, like holding the brake in some sorts of corners”..

You’ve removed the words “last year” from the sentence, to make it seem like this car is what he’s talking about, when clearly it isn’t.

[mwillems]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/ ... lpine-boss

Alpine are saying that the CRB recognised in favour of Alpine but Piastri refused to drive??

I'm lost.

[mwillems]

So the CRB didn't rule in our favour, they said we have a valid contract. And so did Alpine.

WTF is the point of the CRB??

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/124063/c ... astri.html

[kptaylor]

I think it's vague reporting that's the issue at play. CRB probably did review the 10/2021 Alpine contract and approved it. That doesn't speak to whether there are any outs in the contract. They also reviewed the 07/2022 McLaren contract and said it's valid, based on the out clauses in the 10/2021 Alpine contract.

All speculation until they're published or this goes to court.

[geogate]

i read somewhere that Piastri didnt have a contract with Alpine F1 team, rather it was with their driving academy, so as far as the CRB was concerned, there was no conflict that was within their remit, which is why they are talking about civil litigation to recoup costs invested in his preparation for an F1 drive

[PlatinumZealot]

He has a contract but it can be broken with a hefty penalty more likely. We are aware that Zhou's Apline contract was done and dusted before he moved to Sauber. It seems now the Piastri has that Test/reserve driver contract in place for 2023- which means should Alonso be unable to race he will have to drive.

Mclaren now.. I am guessing they signed a Pre-contract for 2024 with some sort of clause for 2023.


I was guessing the Danny would stay and Piastri understudy him but now I think Danny is gone becauseof the mess. Or at least he will be negotiating with Alpine and waiting to see how the dispute plays out.

[runningmanz]

It's totally true though, we have no idea if he will stay or go, just that it seems talks are underway to work out the way forward.

I was of the same opinion, however having had nothing but radio silence from McLaren then clearly something is afoot

If what was being said was not true, McLaren would’ve denied it by now. There is no way they would let this drag out throughout the media as it would clearly be detrimental to Daniel

I'm certain they are in talks, but Im not certain who holds what cards and what the incentives are.

Is there a guaranteed seat clause for instance or if the interest from others teams is concrete or polite.
It may be that the delay is Dan seeing if he can get a seat somewhere interesting.

I suspect this process is led by Dan and Mclaren will just follow his lead now he knows the team would like him put of the seat.

Yeah its developed into a pretty big mess now. Not sure how Dan would feel driving the rest of this year knowing the team don't want him. Would be hard to block all that out. The ideal solution would be for Dan to go straight to Alpine and Piastri to start with McLaren after the summer break and they work out a compensation deal with Alpine for all the money spent on Piastri to prep him for F1. Not sure if there is enough time though to get that done. Like I said what a mess!

[mwillems]

I think it's vague reporting that's the issue at play. CRB probably did review the 10/2021 Alpine contract and approved it. That doesn't speak to whether there are any outs in the contract. They also reviewed the 07/2022 McLaren contract and said it's valid, based on the out clauses in the 10/2021 Alpine contract.

All speculation until they're published or this goes to court.

Each quote from Alpine is the same for every source so it's not really vague in that sense. But exactly what the CRB said we don't know. The high court will tell.

[mwillems]

i read somewhere that Piastri didnt have a contract with Alpine F1 team, rather it was with their driving academy, so as far as the CRB was concerned, there was no conflict that was within their remit, which is why they are talking about civil litigation to recoup costs invested in his preparation for an F1 drive

Makes sense if it is true.

[Ben1980]

I was of the same opinion, however having had nothing but radio silence from McLaren then clearly something is afoot

If what was being said was not true, McLaren would’ve denied it by now. There is no way they would let this drag out throughout the media as it would clearly be detrimental to Daniel

I'm certain they are in talks, but Im not certain who holds what cards and what the incentives are.

Is there a guaranteed seat clause for instance or if the interest from others teams is concrete or polite.
It may be that the delay is Dan seeing if he can get a seat somewhere interesting.

I suspect this process is led by Dan and Mclaren will just follow his lead now he knows the team would like him put of the seat.

Yeah its developed into a pretty big mess now. Not sure how Dan would feel driving the rest of this year knowing the team don't want him. Would be hard to block all that out. The ideal solution would be for Dan to go straight to Alpine and Piastri to start with McLaren after the summer break and they work out a compensation deal with Alpine for all the money spent on Piastri to prep him for F1. Not sure if there is enough time though to get that done. Like I said what a mess!

Well Renault had him for a season knowing he didn't want to be with them. So swings and roundabouts.

[Mansell89]

There’s still a few ways this can play out, and I see Williams at the heart of it.

DR @ McLaren- Piastri goes to Williams on a years loan, solving their second driver issue and giving him a good benchmark in Albon. Ricciardo sees out his third year and Piastri takes his seat in 2024. Alpine would need to fill a seat for a season if they wanted DR in 2024, or of course they could sign someone else on a longer term and leave Dan searching for options in 2024.

DR @ Aston Martin- Sounds a bit ludicrous right now, but if Papa Stroll is serious about driving his team forward, he must know deep down that he needs two strong drivers. Ricciardo and Alonso would give phenomenal marketing ability, he could probably negotiate Ricciardo down a peg on salary, and those two developing the car over the next two seasons would be huge. Ricciardo has obviously worked with Dan Fallows at Red Bull and IMO of all the team fits for Dan, this one makes the best fit. It all of course depends on Lawrence Stroll, and presumably a payment to Williams for them to seat Lance Stroll there. Stroll and Albon is better than Latifi and Albon, and Alonso and Ricc is better than Alonso and Stroll. Best fit, least likely probably.

DR @Alpine- direct swap with Piastri for 2023 is option 1. Option 2 might involve mid season swapping but presumably Alpine ditching Alonso mid season would rumble into a court case, so not likely.


DR@ Alpha Tauri: Dan rejoins the Red Bull family and earns his stripes in the sister team to try and get into the big team when Perez walks away in 2024. (Unless we see the infamous Marko swap!) I think he’d only re join on the premise that he had a chance to earn his way back into the main team.

I couldn’t see him driving at Haas or Alfa Romeo at this stage. I couldn’t fully rule out Williams if they could demonstrate their direction, but I think it’s a bit early in their journey.

[FittingMechanics]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/ ... lpine-boss

Alpine are saying that the CRB recognised in favour of Alpine but Piastri refused to drive??

I'm lost.

"The American said he contacted F1’s contract recognition board (CRB) last week but that avenue might not be sufficient.

“If the CRB says ‘your licence is only valid at Alpine’, and then he [Piastri] says ‘that’s great but I’m never driving for them, I’ll just sit out a year’, then you’ve got to go to the high court for compensation,” said Szafnauer."


Doesn't seem that CRB recognized in Alpine favor. He says "if" - and that even an CRB decision in favor of Alpine would not be enough in Otmars opinion. I think this means that CRB did not or will not rule in Alpine favor so he is just saying they will go to court regardless.

If they had a good legal situation they wouldn't be blowing up so much smoke. Piastri and McLaren are quite silent and are waiting it out.

[mwillems]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/ ... lpine-boss

Alpine are saying that the CRB recognised in favour of Alpine but Piastri refused to drive??

I'm lost.

"The American said he contacted F1’s contract recognition board (CRB) last week but that avenue might not be sufficient.

“If the CRB says ‘your licence is only valid at Alpine’, and then he [Piastri] says ‘that’s great but I’m never driving for them, I’ll just sit out a year’, then you’ve got to go to the high court for compensation,” said Szafnauer."


Doesn't seem that CRB recognized in Alpine favor. He says "if" - and that even an CRB decision in favor of Alpine would not be enough in Otmars opinion. I think this means that CRB did not or will not rule in Alpine favor so he is just saying they will go to court regardless.

If they had a good legal situation they wouldn't be blowing up so much smoke. Piastri and McLaren are quite silent and are waiting it out.

It seems the "if" is not about the fact the CRB is saying that his license is only valid at Alpine (According to Otmar), so this seems to be favourable to Alpine if the CRB have said that he might have a contract elsewhere but he can only drive for Alpine in 2023. It means he has to come back to Alpine (He won't) or Mclaren will have to pay them off. That doesn't mean it is the outcome that Alpine wants, but it is certainly not the "Cleared to race for Mclaren" reporting we had heard.

It seems to be up in the air in terms of what the outcome will be and I suspect some important details are yet to be revealed.

[FittingMechanics]

It seems the "if" is not about the fact the CRB is saying that his license is only valid at Alpine (According to Otmar), so this seems to be favourable to Alpine if the CRB have said that he might have a contract elsewhere but he can only drive for Alpine in 2023. It means he has to come back to Alpine (He won't) or Mclaren will have to pay them off. That doesn't mean it is the outcome that Alpine wants, but it is certainly not the "Cleared to race for Mclaren" reporting we had heard.

It seems to be up in the air in terms of what the outcome will be and I suspect some important details are yet to be revealed.

It looks to me as purely speculative comment from Otmar.

He said they have no way to force him even if CRB rules in their favor. Which is technically true as no one can force a drive to sit in a car or drive fast. So he says that if that happens (CRB rules in their favor and Piastri does not want to drive), they have to go to civil court and sue for damages. So Otmar says that they will probably go to court.

I don't think that comment means CRB ruled in Alpine favor in any way. Maybe they will, but I doubt it. Otmar is giving us an excuse why they want to go to court.