F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

Alpine look like a joke shop, have a read of this...

Can't blame Piastri at all here...

Yikes

In the interest of fairness, McLaren didn't handle the transition from Ricciardo to Piastri all that great either. Letting Daniel tweet his commitment while the ink was still drying on Piastri's contract. Basically there's been f ups all round.

Disagree. I think Ricciardo tweeted that because he saw the writing on the wall. He knew they tested Carlton Herta in an old car. And according to The-Race, he knew they were talking to Piastri but they weren't guaranteeing him a race seat for 2023.

Ricciardo's tweet was telling mclaren he was committed to seeing out his contract and if they wanted him out, they'd have to pay handsomely.

Mclaren comes out of this very well. They never sh1t talked Ricciardo's performances and they quietly went about replacing him without embarrassing him publicly or adding to the reputation damages done in the 2 seasons with mclaren. They now have a promising rookie for the next 2 years without violating any contracts and settled their bill with Ricciardo.

Hard to see how they did anything wrong.

So it has emerged that Piastri has informed Alpine he didn't want to race for them in 2023, and potentially knew he had signed for McLaren. Despite that they still put out a tweet announcing him as a driver.. Incredible. And Snfauzer was on about integrity in his interviews the past week. The man clearly doesn't understand the definition of the word.

In response to this, Mercer stated that she was "the bottleneck" due to a lack of legal resources at the team.

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.

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.

My stance on the Piastri tweet has changed considerably since seeing those details of the saga. It was unprofessional, but considering Alpine's behaviour I don't really see it in a negative light anymore. I don't really understand how a professional sporting team with an annual budget of nearly €150 million doesn't always retain legal counsel. Even if they were in between counsel, hire external help to bridge the gap. A circus of a team behind the scenes, and not only badly managed, but it verges on gross misconduct.

McLaren don’t appear to be smelling of roses after all this either if the below thread is anything to go by

https://twitter.com/sge_hou/status/1565774398056833025?s=21&t=TkLEY9shFvcP4r3ig-QjFg

Always wary whenever "a source" gets mentioned.

This is a really good summary of the whole Piastri affair:

Alpine seem like a joke shop. You'd feel for Ricciardo, my reading of it is that McLaren were hoping to have everything tidied up before any announcements but then once Alonso went to Aston Martin it all fell apart.

I was thinking that Piastri was coming across as a tool initially, but sounds like he was totally in the rights.

Hamilton.

And no.

.....

Monza next.

Alpine could sneak a podium. Car is good in straight line.

Merc is draggy, Ferrari will go all Italian again (Sainz starting at back of grid)

Why can't anyone say Alpine as it's meant to be said. They all say it like its Alpene but it's not. It's Alpine as in Pine..

French team using French pronunciation shocker!!!!

Monza this weekend. Some of my family are going to the race.