Daniel Ricciardo leaves McLaren. It’s not scandalous at all – but it does start a huge debate about the talent Oscar Piastre.
It is he who was already presented by Alpine as a driver until 2023, but he himself claims that he does not have a contract with the French stable at all. hourPrefer to drive with McLaren.
Do you follow?
This summer, Fernando Alonso was introduced as the new driver for Aston Martin, replacing Sebastian Vettel. Two hours later, Albin presented his replacement, Oscar Piastre.
The young driver from Australia who won the Formula 2 race last year and who this year was a reserve driver for Alpine and McLaren. Piastre has been part of the Alpine/Renault academy for several years and they have bet big that he will one day learn enough to drive for the team. Now he will have a chance, the Alpine believes.
But there is a catch.
Oscar Piastre does not want that.
In the press release from Alpine, there was no quotation from Oscar Piastre, and just a few hours after Alpine confirmed he was the new driver for 2023, he himself denied the information on Twitter. Maybe because he has something else going on. It’s written McLaren.
Daniel Ricciardo is leaving McLaren
Now that Daniel Ricciardo has left McLaren, although he has a year left on his contract, the way is open.
or?
The Alps claim the Biastri will lead them – and so does McLaren.
“I am convinced of what will happen to us in the future and will tell you when we are ready,” says McLaren CEO Zak Brown when he meets with the media ahead of the Belgium Grand Prix.
– We want to focus on racing this weekend and also during the rest of the year, so it was important for us to really make that clear today.
Or it is the case that lawyers are now discussing how to find a solution. Maybe it will just change? Where does McLaren run with Piastar next year and Daniel Ricciardo return to the Alps?
Ricciardo competed for the team when it was called Renault, before joining McLaren nearly two years ago. Or will he leave Formula 1? Not many places left for F1 2023. One at AlphaTauri, one at Alfa Romeo, one at Williams, one at Haas and one at Alpine – but Ricciardo has certain demands in terms of salary and certain expectations for results.
But none of the stables mentioned above can offer either of the stables or the other.
The fight for Oscar Bistare
Daniel Ricciardo has never been successful at McLaren, has been heavily criticized by teammate Lando Norris and doesn’t seem to be enjoying the car at all. He was also not able to score the points the team needed to secure fourth place in the championship, and it was Lando Norris himself who handled the battle between McLaren and Alpine. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that he is now being fired. There is talk of McLaren releasing him from the contract, i.e. paying a huge sum to leave. It shows the extent of the dissatisfaction of the stable.
It should be noted that McLaren is involved in a similar struggle in IndyCar. There, the team introduced Alex Palo as the driver for next season, but current Palo team Chip Ganassi Racing claims they have Palo rights. There is a legal dispute going on between the two parties.
Short news before F1 at Spa
If you want more talk before the weekend, try Sportbladet’s F1 podcast “Plattan i Mattan”. There, my colleague Philip Lindfors and I review what happened over the summer, team by team, driver by driver, and also talk about the latest news. In other words, a good summary of the season. We also talk about the situation between Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren. We will be having a live chat this afternoon on sportbladet.se.
Mick Schumacher got Haas’ update for the Belgian event this weekend, but his contract until 2023 has expired and Sebastian Vettel is retiring. It could mean that F1 2023 starts completely without any German driver. It hasn’t happened since 1981. Little difference from 2010 when there were seven German drivers competing in Formula 1.
Ralf Schumacher, who previously drove for William and Toyota, was not surprised.
Motorsports are getting too expensive, says Ralf Schumacher for Sports 1.
A regular go-kart season costs 2 million kroner. The season starts in one of the support classes at around five million kroner. Who can afford it?
Haas is introducing a new sponsor, Hentec Markets, and it will be a multi-million kroner deal through the end of 2023.
Spa-Francorchamps has been renovated and rebuilt, but that doesn’t change anything with regards to the DRS areas. The first can be found 230m after Turn 4 and the second 30m after Turn 19. Here you can get a more detailed guide on F1 at Spa 2022 and you can also read about the tyres.
Will we see a Spa in F1 too in 2023? It is not yet clear, because the track does not have a contract for next season.