They got fortunate with the VSC which limited the damage of Pierre's second stop. Amazing timingAR3-GP wrote: ↑06 Mar 2023, 23:39Gasly only finished 17 seconds behind Russell despite starting P20. Alpine actually played a blinder of a strategy with the S-H-S which went largely unnoticed. If Gasly had started in the top 10, he'd have beat Russell I reckon. It's crazy to be thinking that
I've not done a deep dive into the circumstances surrounding the laptimes, but I still get a feeling Alpine don't have the ultimate pace on like for like tires relative to Mercedes, but it would have been an interesting fight because of Gasly's alternate tire strategy:
https://i.postimg.cc/yx6Pd9Db/image.png
It's much simpler than you think: Renault's structure is the smallest in Formula 1. This suggests that they don't want to invest and don't consider F1 a priority. De Meo had said that Renault wanted out and that he made sure that this didn't happen. The problem with Rossi's management is whoever put him there and the culprit is De Meo. As for the car's performance, don't be under any illusions.; they can't catch up with Mercedes even in the most optimistic future. They said it last year after the performance in jeddah and then it never happened, just imagine now that the situation has worsened. However Alpinr will have its good tracks and Saudi Arabia is one of them, so they will be very strong there and will be closer to the top teams. But for the rest of the season if they finish fifth ahead of McLaren "for them" it's a super success. "For them"AR3-GP wrote: ↑06 Mar 2023, 22:30Exactly! Enstone is a works team! Their own engine. Their own windtunnel. There own gearbox. Their own suspension. A technical genius like Fallows or Blandon should see Enstone like a piece of modeling clay that they can shape into the perfect F1 team and to do it with a huge brand like Renault would have them seen in the same mold as Adrian Newey, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, James Allison etc etc. Here's the keys to the team, go win a championship.Enstone wrote: ↑06 Mar 2023, 20:16It's more Rossi than De Meo i think... the first question is why Dan Fallows or James Key won't even consider to join Alpine... even Binotto would prefer to break his arm instead of working for EnstonexReVo wrote: ↑06 Mar 2023, 19:05The alpine a521 was a great car that only lacked the engine and obviously the aerodynamic intervention. But they justified this fact, saying they were aiming for 2022. Well, it was a failure. 2023 will be even worse. It seems they are out of budget considering development of the A523 started in November 2021. They kicked out Budkowski who was one of the top aero engineers in F1. Bad management by De Meo
Why did no one come?
They fired a lawyer for the Piastri think last year. The Piastri thing was simply a contract problem. One that the teams thought they had one that Piastri couldn't get out of.Bisonas wrote: ↑08 Mar 2023, 01:46TBH i think that either Rossi or Otmar, one of them (probably Rossi), won't be with the team next year or at least he won't have the role he has today.
I had said from last year, right after Alonso and Piastri fiasco, that heads won't be rolling immediately after the fiasco, because they are too proud and egocentric to even acknowledge the fiasco but 2023 season will be the season that all the management mistakes they did last year will come and bite them hard.
Is not going to be an easy year for Alpine IMO.
I also expect a lot of fireworks between Ocon and Gasly this year.
We all expect tensions to rise, i know, but i expect almost "unmanageable" and very costly fireworks tbh.
The contract recognition board's findings dont agree with that.
The Contract Recognition Board's ruling in the Oscar Piastri McLaren vs Alpine case has detailed how numerous failings on the latter's behalf led to Piastri looking elsewhere for a Formula 1 race seat.
The CRB's unanimous ruling was announced on Friday, upholding McLaren's claim to the 2021 Formula 2 champion on a two-year deal to partner Lando Norris starting from the 2023 campaign.
Alpine have accepted the ruling and will not appeal the decision having lost a driver it has poured time and resource into developing for an F1 race seat.
However, as RacingNews365 wrote in August, Piastri had never signed a document with Alpine for a 2023 race seat in F1, which has been confirmed by the CRB ruling.
Two contracts for Piastri
In the ruling, arbitrators Ian Hunter QC, Stefano Azzali, Prof. Dr Klaus Peter Berger and Matthieu de Boisseson all found that Alpine had separate contracts for Piastri for his 2022 reserve driver duties and a potential '23 race seat, but repeated missed deadlines frustrating his manager, Mark Webber.
Alpine believed a 2022/23 'Terms Sheet' dated in November 2021 constituted a "valid contract between Piastri and Alpine for the purposes of a race driver role in the 2023 and 2024 F1 seasons," RacingNews365.com understands.
However, this was only the "intended" starting point for negotiations, with the Piastri camp being informed by Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi that contracts would be exchanged within 10 business days of 15th November 2021.
This deadline came and went with Webber growing frustrated by Alpine not sending the documents over, telling Director of Legal Affairs Benedicte Mercer that "there are so many times can tell Mr Piastri and his father that 'it's coming'".
In response to this, Mercer stated that she was "the bottleneck" due to a lack of legal resources at the team.
After nothing happened in January, Mercer wrote to Webber in February 2022 stating that she felt like: "I am in the spin cycle of a washing machine" and that "things should ease off after the launch - which means I can pick things up right where I left off on Oscar's contract."
By March 2022, days before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Piastri did not have a contract with Alpine - either for his 2022 reserve driver duties or a race seat.
The reserve driver draft was sent to the Piastri camp on March 4th, with Alpine hopeful of sending the F1 race seat contract the week after.
This reserve deal was lodged with the CRB on March 14th, but did not feature any extension beyond December 31st for a potential race seat with Alpine.
Piastri received this contract through his lawyers on March 15th, with Mercer stating that this was "an emergency measure" with the season starting just four days later, and no reserve driver agreement in place.
Without a contract in place, Piastri could not be granted a super licence for his reserve position, which Mercer was aware of.
With no other option, she was forced into treating the Terms Sheet of November 2021 as a binding contract, adding the words "legally binding Heads of Terms" to the document. This phrase was not present on the original document sent to Piastri the previous year.
The CRB found that "whether Ms Mercer genuinely believed that the Terms Sheet was legally binding is not for us to say."
On May 19th, Alpine sent a document to Piastri entitled 'Oscar Piastri 2023/2026 proposal,' detailing its F1 plans over a four-year time-span.
The "road map" called for a season at Williams in 2023 with the intention of staying there in 2024, albeit with a break clause on Alpine's side to recall him for the second season, needing to be activated by July 31st 2023.
For 2025 onwards, Piastri was planned to be at Alpine full-time, meaning he potentially could have had to wait until then to make his race debut with the Enstone-based team.
Such a wait was intolerable for the Piastri camp, who subsequently decided to explore options away from Alpine for a 2023 F1 race seat.
On June 3rd, Piastri signed a "Driving Agreement" with McLaren - dependent on rights to Piastri's services with other companies being "no longer effective."
Piastri signed his McLaren race contract on July 4th - the day after the British GP - commencing on January 1st 2023 - the day after Piastri's reserve driver deal with Alpine for 2022 expires and he becomes a free agent.
The McLaren contract is deemed "valid and binding" whereas Alpine never had anything with Piastri signed post 2022.
VIEWED BY OTHERS:
Oscar Piastri
OSCAR PIASTRI
FIA's CRB rule Piastri has valid McLaren contract for 2023
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DUTCH GRAND PRIX 2022
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Alpine to pay legal costs
The CRB also ruled that Alpine is responsible for the legal costs of all parties involved in the case, including McLaren, Piastri himself and the board members.
The team must pay £229,965.00 to McLaren, £120,086.14 to Piastri with the arbitrators' fees ranging from £34,000 to £74,400.
An additional £16,000 is required to be paid to cover the CRB interests, meaning Alpine is liable for a total of £530, 467.14 GBP in legal fees, on top of its own costs.
They're not Lawyers right. They ask the lawyers to write up all that stuff. Then the manager goes out and gets the drivers to sign.JordanMugen wrote: ↑08 Mar 2023, 06:08Is that not a sign of managerial incompetence at Alpine F1 Team?
The car is fine. Likely 5th best (before the Mclaren upgrades).dfegan358 wrote: ↑08 Mar 2023, 13:35So alpine claim to have a 100 race plan to win races again but it’s all a bluff and they have no real motivation or passion to get to the front in f1? Really dislike alpine for some reason, just seem mediocre in everything they do, uninspiring and lack ambition. For a works team their progress in recent years has been very poor. I think they have a tough year ahead, not convinced that car is great this year.definitely agree with the potential for tension with ocon/gasly
Looks like Alpine know what they are currently lacking and trying to address those aspects.Karun Chandok says in the sky vodcast that someone from RB told him last year that they are struggling to stop their people on weekly basis from joining Alpine and Aston.
Encouraging to hear Alpine are head hunting.EJ22B wrote: ↑08 Mar 2023, 20:44https://streamja.com/51X4q
Looks like Alpine know what they are currently lacking and trying to address those aspects.Karun Chandok says in the sky vodcast that someone from RB told him last year that they are struggling to stop their people on weekly basis from joining Alpine and Aston.
peewon wrote: ↑08 Mar 2023, 04:47The contract recognition board's findings dont agree with that.
The Contract Recognition Board's ruling in the Oscar Piastri McLaren vs Alpine case has detailed how numerous failings on the latter's behalf led to Piastri looking elsewhere for a Formula 1 race seat.
The CRB's unanimous ruling was announced on Friday, upholding McLaren's claim to the 2021 Formula 2 champion on a two-year deal to partner Lando Norris starting from the 2023 campaign.
Alpine have accepted the ruling and will not appeal the decision having lost a driver it has poured time and resource into developing for an F1 race seat.
However, as RacingNews365 wrote in August, Piastri had never signed a document with Alpine for a 2023 race seat in F1, which has been confirmed by the CRB ruling.
Two contracts for Piastri
In the ruling, arbitrators Ian Hunter QC, Stefano Azzali, Prof. Dr Klaus Peter Berger and Matthieu de Boisseson all found that Alpine had separate contracts for Piastri for his 2022 reserve driver duties and a potential '23 race seat, but repeated missed deadlines frustrating his manager, Mark Webber.
Alpine believed a 2022/23 'Terms Sheet' dated in November 2021 constituted a "valid contract between Piastri and Alpine for the purposes of a race driver role in the 2023 and 2024 F1 seasons," RacingNews365.com understands.
However, this was only the "intended" starting point for negotiations, with the Piastri camp being informed by Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi that contracts would be exchanged within 10 business days of 15th November 2021.
This deadline came and went with Webber growing frustrated by Alpine not sending the documents over, telling Director of Legal Affairs Benedicte Mercer that "there are so many times can tell Mr Piastri and his father that 'it's coming'".
In response to this, Mercer stated that she was "the bottleneck" due to a lack of legal resources at the team.
After nothing happened in January, Mercer wrote to Webber in February 2022 stating that she felt like: "I am in the spin cycle of a washing machine" and that "things should ease off after the launch - which means I can pick things up right where I left off on Oscar's contract."
By March 2022, days before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Piastri did not have a contract with Alpine - either for his 2022 reserve driver duties or a race seat.
The reserve driver draft was sent to the Piastri camp on March 4th, with Alpine hopeful of sending the F1 race seat contract the week after.
This reserve deal was lodged with the CRB on March 14th, but did not feature any extension beyond December 31st for a potential race seat with Alpine.
Piastri received this contract through his lawyers on March 15th, with Mercer stating that this was "an emergency measure" with the season starting just four days later, and no reserve driver agreement in place.
Without a contract in place, Piastri could not be granted a super licence for his reserve position, which Mercer was aware of.
With no other option, she was forced into treating the Terms Sheet of November 2021 as a binding contract, adding the words "legally binding Heads of Terms" to the document. This phrase was not present on the original document sent to Piastri the previous year.
The CRB found that "whether Ms Mercer genuinely believed that the Terms Sheet was legally binding is not for us to say."
On May 19th, Alpine sent a document to Piastri entitled 'Oscar Piastri 2023/2026 proposal,' detailing its F1 plans over a four-year time-span.
The "road map" called for a season at Williams in 2023 with the intention of staying there in 2024, albeit with a break clause on Alpine's side to recall him for the second season, needing to be activated by July 31st 2023.
For 2025 onwards, Piastri was planned to be at Alpine full-time, meaning he potentially could have had to wait until then to make his race debut with the Enstone-based team.
Such a wait was intolerable for the Piastri camp, who subsequently decided to explore options away from Alpine for a 2023 F1 race seat.
On June 3rd, Piastri signed a "Driving Agreement" with McLaren - dependent on rights to Piastri's services with other companies being "no longer effective."
Piastri signed his McLaren race contract on July 4th - the day after the British GP - commencing on January 1st 2023 - the day after Piastri's reserve driver deal with Alpine for 2022 expires and he becomes a free agent.
The McLaren contract is deemed "valid and binding" whereas Alpine never had anything with Piastri signed post 2022.
VIEWED BY OTHERS:
Oscar Piastri
OSCAR PIASTRI
FIA's CRB rule Piastri has valid McLaren contract for 2023
Verstappen Zandvoort
DUTCH GRAND PRIX 2022
Verstappen set to escape gearbox grid penalty at Dutch GP
Alpine to pay legal costs
The CRB also ruled that Alpine is responsible for the legal costs of all parties involved in the case, including McLaren, Piastri himself and the board members.
The team must pay £229,965.00 to McLaren, £120,086.14 to Piastri with the arbitrators' fees ranging from £34,000 to £74,400.
An additional £16,000 is required to be paid to cover the CRB interests, meaning Alpine is liable for a total of £530, 467.14 GBP in legal fees, on top of its own costs.
