F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

LOL ......

Renault had a winning engine when the technology had been done to death and the engines were all roughly the same. They haven't won anything with the post 2014 engine and they won't win anything with it either (flukey Ocon win in a wet Hungary aside). They're never going to compete at the front with such an unambitious engine programme.

Even red bull couldn't compete at the front with the post 2014 Renault engine. So Alpine has no chance.

Piastri isn't livestock to be moved from paddock to paddock as Alpine want. They announced him as their driver whe. He was contractually free to sign for anyone. What was he going to be paid? What were his conditions? Very difficult to negotiate when you're accepting the drive just because they announced it and hope you 'go quietly'.

Things an astonishing attitude to labour. He should just go quietly and accept whatever slop Alpine feed him? He needs Mick Lynch advocating for him, not @mickdw

He may have had a torrid time at McLaren, but he was a top driver, so obviously they'd be hoping he can regain that form. It'd be fairly low risk for them to give him a 1 year contract, or maybe a longer one with strict performance clauses in it. Especially since they can probably get him for a fraction of the price they paid him before.

Scott Mitchell discussed it on The Race during the week. The understanding was that Alpine were giving Alonso a 1 year deal, with the option on the teams side for a second year. Alonso, being Alonso, was upset by this, and the thought that he was keeping the seat warm for a young whipper snapper. On the other side, Alpine were trying to place Piastri at Williams to serve his apprenticeship for a season or two, which he/his management was not keen on. Seems like both drivers were upset/insulted by the deals on offer which made them look elsewhere.

Then add in the fact that there is a whole other layer to this, with Alonso and Webbers relationship, Flavio lurking in the background etc. its fairly clear it was a coordinated move from both driver camps to make sure they both got what they wanted and punished Alpine for trying to string them both along.

Interesting to see the Tommy Byrne documentary "Crash and Burn" was added to Disney+ yesterday.

Unless the rumours that Webber refused to return their calls are true.

Wonder will Alpine consider going to court ( in France presumably)

Because he does not appreciate how lucky he was to have Alpine develop him and give him a chance to get into F1. What harm would a year or two at Williams have done him? It done George Russell no harm.

I Have a feeling the Piestri will regret moving straight into Mclaren with the extra pressure and what will be expected of him there. He could end up like Kevin Magnussen at his stint in Mclaren. They will be a lot more pressure on him at Mclaren than if he had went to Williams.

I said he should have gone quietly to them to reverse it, release a joint statement and keep his options open for the future, not accept the drive.

You are taking a very narrow view of Renault performance in F1. Yes they didn't win titles with the hybrid engines but they did win a number of races with red bull in the hybrid era. They are a serious manufacturer with a history in F1 as good as anyone out there. I'm thinking 10 or more titles as an engine supplier in the years since 1990 - the length I've been watching F1.

Piastri has got involved here with Alonso and flavio, yesterdays men with a grudge.

If he goes well and is the equal of Norris at McLaren, he will be on safe ground.

If he is looking for other seats in a couple of years, well he might be a sorry boy to have pissed all over Renault.

Both he and Renault did each other dirty. Loyalty is a lovely idea. But it doesn't exist in F1.

I doubtbhes burned his bridges at Alpine. Could end up there yet. It depends on whether he's good. If he's crap, Alpine might be highly principled and never hire him. If he's good and Alpine want him, they'd hire him in a heartbeat. In other words, there is absolutely no principle.

Can you elaborate on the Alpine "developing" Piastri statement? Back it up with some facts etc?

From what I can see he was well into his career, was already with the best team for junior series (prema) and had a deal signed in FIA F3 for the 2020 season before Alpine took him on, so I'm struggling to see what they actually did for him bar come in after he had proved himself in Euro F3 and make him unappealing to other teams for a seat this year.

I don't see it that way. They were hamstrung by Ricciardo's poor performance but he also had all the contract power. Now they can give him a few bob and 'allow' him to go to Alpine. Ricciardo gets what he wants, Piastri gets what he wants and mclaren get what they want. Alpine are the only one losing out. Mclaren and Ricciardo did a good bit of business.

I'm assuming Ricciardo ends up at Alpine.

Yeah I suppose. 2 French drivers isn't ideal though. It sounds good but it's actually covering the same base twice. Ideally they'd have a driver from the top 2 markets they want to expand into. I've no idea who Alpine want to market their cars to though.

Driver nationality aside, I'd prefer Gasley Ricciardo. Gasley isn't having a standout season like the last 2, but he's a good driver with decent experience now. He'd be my pick if he's available and it doesn't cost too much to pay him and buy him out of his AT contract.

I thought his statement was just being legally clear where he stood. Alpine were trying to pressure him into driving for them. They probably wanted to collapse any talks he might have been holding with other teams. I did t see it as deliberately humiliation. Rather I saw it as being explicit about thr fact that he jad not signed for them and as things stood, would not be driving for them.

Contracts mean naff all in F1 so he probably had to make clear to Mclaren that he wasn't going to leave them in a sticky situation by turning around and signing for Alpine.

Nobody seems to be recognising that Alpine tried to sabotage any negotiations he might be having and bully him into meekly accepting their drive. Bad behaviour from Alpine.

Nobody looks good in all this, bit I don't see any one bad guy either.

Yeah McLaren have kept it all very civilised. When Ricciardo wanted to stay they gave him public backing. They've always publicly backed him throughput his struggles during the 2 seasons.

Now there's a seat Ricciardo might be very interested in, I'd say they're delighted. But they haven't aired any dirty laundry in public. Textbook performance by McLaren.

Russell's loyalty paid off because the carrot was Mercedes and the stick was Williams.

For Piastri, the stick is Williams but the carrot is only Alpine. Why bother with Williams when he could just jump straight into the mclaren instead. The end result is similar but without doing 2 years at Williams