Although it was ultimately a matter decided by the Formula 1 Contract Recognition Board, and cost Alpine just over €600,000 in fees, it was a complex matter that even led to personal insults at times.
Oscar Piastri has faced accusations of a lack of “integrity” from Alpine director Otmar Szafnauer for turning his back on the team that helped guide his career at its Young Driver Academy since 2020.
The Australian was also the subject of criticism from Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff , who made pointed comments about “integrity” and “karma”.
On the other side of the table, McLaren has also faced backlash on social media for the way it struck a deal with Piastri for the 2023 season when Daniel Ricciardo was still under contract.
But now that the case has been resolved and both parties have had to appear before the Contract Recognition Board with their version of what happened, there is a clearer picture of what really happened and the situation is very different from what some they presumed
Motorsport.com has spoken to a number of those involved who are familiar with all the proceedings and events, and the reality is that more than the Piastri affair being a case of a ruthless young driver and his management team betraying a team, it was more a matter of feeling let down.
And from McLaren ‘s perspective, they were only guilty of seeking the most competitive driver line-up possible, when a unique opportunity fell into their hands.
The arguments of the Contract Recognition Board
The case between Alpine and the Contract Recognition Board is understood to have revolved around an agreement that vaguely outlined Alpine ‘s plans for Piastri between 2020 and 2023.
This document had originally been sent to Piastri and also his manager Mark Webber on November 15, 2021 as part of the correspondence detailing the team’s response.
At the time, and agreed to in subsequent emails, it was clear to Alpine and Piastri/Webber that the best way to progress from this roadmap was to sign two separate contracts: one to be reserve in 2022 and one to be titular pilot in 2023/2024.
In a letter Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi sent on that date, he promised that an F1 driver deal would be sent to him shortly, “with a view to exercising it no later than 10 working days after receiving it”.
However, no agreement was reached either to be booked or to get a seat and it is understood that Webber and Piastri became increasingly frustrated with the delays.
In the correspondence between Webber and Alpine’s legal team over the next few weeks, it became increasingly clear that things were not moving as quickly as the young Australian driver’s side would have liked.
At first it was blamed on system “bottlenecks” caused by a lack of resources, and then other delays as the team prepared for the unveiling of their new car.
In preparation for the unveiling of the A522 at the end of February, the team promised them that the situation would be resolved sooner rather than later.
Webber asked to have a contract signed before March 1 so that Piastri ‘s management team would have time to assess and sign him before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
On March 2, Webber received a promise that he would have the contract that same day.
However, two days later, the former F1 driver received a “draft contract to be a reserve driver”, with a note clarifying that the details of the agreement to be the main driver for the 2023/2024 seasons would arrive the following week.
This latter deal never came, citing delays caused by his shared reserve driver role with McLaren , which they had agreed directly with Alpine .
With the F1 season in sight, and with Alpine bound by the Concord Agreement to submit a super license application to the contracting board to allow Piastri to race on track, the deal was proposed to be a reserve driver with the aim of resolve the super license issue.
At the time, the deal to be a regular F1 driver in 2023 and 2024 was expected to come at a later date.
As the reserve pilot agreement was not signed by either of them, Alpine sent a document containing the November 2021 roadmap signed by both parties to the contracts board on March 14.
The team had added a note at the top stating that this was a “Legally Binding Term Sheet.”
This term sheet was also crucially headed “Subject to Contract” and laid out the “likely” plan for Piastri to be a reserve driver for a year before finally landing a potential seat in 2023.
The documents submitted specifically referred to the 2022 reserve pilot role and did not mention any extension or extension option.
A day later, Alpine finally sent Webber and Piastri their proposed deal, albeit with nothing definite in terms of which team he would drive for in 2023 and beyond.
That didn’t come until May 19, when Piastri was sent a proposal to sign a four-year contract, from 2023 to 2026. But more importantly, it wasn’t exclusively to race Alpine. What they had planned for him was that he race for Williams in 2023.
Then, waiting to see Alpine’s plans for Fernando Alonso, in 2024 Piastri would either stay at Williams for a second season or return to Alpine if the Spaniard left F1.
Beginning with the 2025 season, Piastri would have a firm two-year deal to race at Alpine through the end of 2026.
It is believed that this offer, which gave Piastri no hope of a short-term future at Alpine, was the straw that broke the camel’s back for them to decide not to sign and seek another exit.
Instead, Webber and Piastri agreed that the best way forward was to look elsewhere, by which time informal talks with McLaren had begun.
Various sources have revealed that the board’s ruling stated that: “Alpine had been hesitating for eight months over whether to give Mr. Piastri an F1 title driver contract and were proposing a four-year deal beginning with a loan deal two seasons with Williams.
Talks with McLaren progressed and although the team appears to have informed Daniel Ricciardo in May that they were looking at other options for 2023, a preliminary agreement was signed between the Woking-based team and Piastri on June 4.
It is understood that it was originally going to be in an unspecified role in 2023 in case Ricciardo stayed, but obviously with the intention that Piastri would step forward if the two parted ways.
With McLaren and Piastri happy with that deal, and realizing that Alpine really had no claim on him, Piastri’s final contract was signed on July 4, although it was subject to there being an empty seat for him.
Ricciardo ‘s subsequent Instagram post on July 13 about his full commitment to McLaren by 2023 is seen more as a negotiating tactic, aimed at strengthening his options when it comes to settlement.
With McLaren ‘s contract signed for the 2023 season, Piastri sat on the sidelines as the team began to finalize the terms of its break with Ricciardo, something they wanted to finalize before announcing their future driver line-up.
However, the matter became public when Alpine saw Alonso announce his signing for Aston Martin at the beginning of the summer break and then they confirmed Piastri for 2023, which caused the young Australian to publish a tweet in which he assured that he would not would run for the French team and that triggered all the controversy that we now know.
The final decision of the controversy between Piastri, Alpine and McLaren
In the end, the decision of the Contract Recognition Board was unanimous. The fact that the roadmap was labeled ‘subject to contract’ meant that it was far from valid and, without Alpine having come up with anything else, the obvious conclusion was that McLaren was the only team with a genuine contract for 2023 and later seasons.
Curiously, as the last act of conflict between Alpine and Piastri, the team argued to the Contract Recognition Board that the Australian should bear his own legal fees of more than 150,000 euros, since they considered that he was not part of the procedure.
The board rejected him, considering that he had every right to be represented. Another of Alpine’s complaints about the cost of McLaren’s legal representatives was also dismissed, after allegations that it was “excessive”.
Alpine, beyond losing Piastri and the legal costs he has to bear, will have important lessons to learn for the future on how to treat their drivers and their contracts.
Keep in mind that Szafnauer didn’t join the team until early March, a time when the situation was escalating and it may not have been a priority for him to focus on documents already filed with the board.
In response to what Alpine’s response to the events would be, Szafnauer said, “This all happened in November of last year, so I guess it’s easy to blame people who aren’t here anymore, but that’s just not my style. The right thing to do is to take a look at what happened, understand where the flaws were, and fix them for the future.
Although there seems to be no debate about the legal aspects of the Piastri issue, it is understood that for Szafnauer there remains an uncomfortable feeling regarding the moral aspect of how events unfolded.
On the part of McLaren, although they are delighted to have taken one of the great talents that have been seen in recent years, there is still a feeling of discomfort about how things that have happened in some sectors during the last few years have been seen and told. weeks.
Team boss Andreas Seidl said: “I was surprised by some of the comments I read, also from people who didn’t have detailed knowledge of what was going on. I think some of these comments were also inappropriate, unfair and They didn’t respect what was happening.”
“If I find myself in a situation like that, if I only know what’s going on from one side, I try to stay away from commenting on it. And I think it’s also important to mention this to protect Oscar.”
