F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

The news we were all eagerly awaiting...

Alpine can't wait for Ferrari's next clusterfcuk to take the heat off them

Agree with that. If he's good enough behind the wheel then that will iron over any past disputes.

But he hasn't raced an F1 car yet and many great drivers from lower series have failed to find their feet in the sport over the years so he really should be doing everything in his power to maximise his chances and airing dirty laundry in public is not a good way to do that. Even if Alpine are proved to be in the wrong it would have shown more maturity to handle it privately and stay silent until he can announce where he actually is driving.

Lol....

It's all a total Piastrophy

His management is Mark Webber. Not exactly known for his diplomacy.

Makes perfect sense after reading that article above.

Alonso, Webber and Flavio pissed all over Renault.

Kept the Alonso deal quite til piastri passed his freedom date and then pulled both drivers from the team.

It's bad management from Renault / Alpine not to have Alonso signed up prior to the important date.

I still can't help thinking that piastri will realise in future that he has made a blunder here.... Jumping into bed with Flavio and Alonso on an underhand plan is never going to be a good outcome.

Was Briatore 's ban from representing drivers overturned? Strange that such an unsavoury character was allowed return to a role in F1.

Piastri is involving himself with some unsavoury characters if Briatore is behind it all.

@klose wrote "You'd imagine the path of least resistance is ricciardo back to renault/Alpine and Piastri to mclaren. I know ricciardo said he will drive for them next year but could be tempted to go back to alpine if they offer him a multi year contract as he has absolutely zero bargaining power after his displays with mclaren so far."

I think the events of the past weekend increase his bargaining power.

If McLaren have committed to Piastri then they need to breaks Ricciardo's contract, presumably by buying him out. Buying him out might involve buying him a seat at Alpine. i.e. Alpine could get Ricciardo and have some or all of his fee paid by McLaren. Otherwise Alpine do nothing, go elsewhere, possibly sue Piastri and get an injunction stopping him racing for McLaren.

It does look like Alpine dropped the ball. But it also looks like Briatore, Alonso and Webber set up a sting on Alpine. If so, there might be consequences down the road.

Bizarre if true. Turning down a seat in F1 next year to be reserve in another mid tier team?

Unless McLaren were confident of getting rid of Ricciardo next year but he’s digging his heels in.

Maybe Piastri wasn't even guaranteed a drive with Alpine in 2023 or 2024 until Alonso dropped that bombshell. He may have not felt wanted and said right I'm off to Mclaren.

Ricciardo is doing the right by digging his heels in.

I thought the whole thing hinged on Piastri keeping the seat open at Alpine which means Ricciardo moves and takes it. That leaves the McLaren seat open for Piastri.

It's a ballsy move from Piastri. If it works out the advantage is that he would get a couple of years at McLaren and wouldn't be tied into a Contract at Alpine.

I get the impression that Alpine has hit its ceiling and that's why Alonso and Piastri aren't keen to take the seat. Alpine were keen to lock Ocon into a long term deal and maybe Piastri doesn't want to be there for 3 years. He clearly thinks its better to risk being a reserve driver or mclaren driver than taking a guaranteed drive at Alpine.

Yeah I'd say moving is the right thing to do. His performance drop is either because the McLaren car or team doesn't suit him or he has lost his edge for whatever reason. If he stays at McLaren, I think nothing will change next year. Norris will trounce him again unless Norris himself has a terrible year.

If he moves he'll either find his previous form in the Alpine or he'll continue to be poor and he'll be found out for having lost this edge.

There's no point moving to Williams or whatever backmarker. That's career ending. But a move to Alpine might get him moving again and undo some of the reputational damage he's doing at McLaren