Piastri will race for McLaren next year after the F1 Contract Recognition Board (CRB) ruled out Alpine, who defended the Australian’s link to the French team.
In Spa, before the CRB’s decision, Alpine team boss Szafnauer said he was “very” sure they would win the case, as well as questioning Piastri’s integrity by not reciprocating all the support he had been given.
McLaren Racing CEO Brown and F1 team principal Andreas Seidl refrained from commenting on the case until the result was announced; an approach that Brown considered more prudent in the long run.
“Before the CRB ruling, they didn’t know what they didn’t know and we deliberately kept our mouths shut,” Brown said at the IndyCar finale at Laguna Seca last week.
“Now that the sentence and some of the details are out, I think it’s clear what happened. We recognized there was a lot of noise, but we knew the truth would come out at some point.”
“At that time we were not oblivious to the media noise or some messages from the fans. But now we feel very comfortable, because the CRB ruling has come to light, and that is very clear”.
Brown said the decision to remain silent on Piastri ‘s ruling was not influenced by contract disputes regarding Alex Palou in IndyCar, where both McLaren and Chip Ganassi Racing have claimed a deal with him for 2023.
Palou announced on Wednesday that he will stay at Ganassi for 2023, but has an agreement with McLaren to do a test series in a Formula 1 car.
Brown said the Piastri and Palou cases were “two completely different issues that unfortunately coincided at the same time” and provoked a reaction from some fans.
“There was a lot of controversy, but we haven’t really discussed anything here [in IndyCar] either,” Brown said.
“It is better to let things go their way, and there will be time to talk later. If you look at Otmar’s comments, I was sure that the CRB was going to agree with them, and now I think it seems a bit silly.” .
“So I think it’s best to keep your mouth shut and comment later, when there’s something concrete to say.”
Once the CRB announced that Piastri ‘s contract with McLaren was the only one valid for 2023, the team wasted no time announcing him as part of its line-up from next year, replacing Daniel Ricciardo.
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