2022-2023 Silly Season Thread

[Bcarr6]

According to some of the publications a little more tempted by the rumour mill, Piastri to Mclaren is a done deal, they just have to figure out the exit cost with Riccardo.

Pleased to see Dani Ricc go if this turns out to be true. I think he has been wildly overvalued. Sure the car hasnt suited him, but they are never going to change the car to fit him when Norris is finding the car just fine.

It would be interesting to see how a Piastri and Norris combo would go, if Mclaren can deliver a car of merit. Which is a big IF

[Sandgroper]

Dog Act, 2 Aussies shafting the current Aussie on the grid.
Understandbly DR hasnt done well in McLaren but what a way to go.

Hope he goes back to AP where the car suits him better.

[broadrun96]

Just to throw this cat in amongst the pigeons, Andretti claims to have a deal with Alpine for power units for the not yet formed team. Could they try to work out something for Herta over there as a pre-AA creating the team (that I think won't exist ever myself)

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

According to some of the publications a little more tempted by the rumour mill, Piastri to Mclaren is a done deal, they just have to figure out the exit cost with Riccardo.

Certainly being reported on social media that McLaren have told him he is out.....

[bathurst77]

news limited say oscar replacing dan for 23 is a done deal.. dan has been told already

Ricciardo told he’ll be replaced by Oscar Piastri at McLaren in Aussie F1 bombshell
Daniel Ricciardo has reportedly been told he is being replaced at McLaren by fellow Aussie young gun Oscar Piastri in a shock shake-up.

https://tinyurl.com/2p9e9dj9

[bathurst77]

Originally Posted by Sandgroper

Dog Act, 2 Aussies shafting the current Aussie on the grid.

Thats crap.. shame on you

If you want to get to the top , best in the world, you have to have that winner take all - do what it takes attitude

Oscar didnt shaft or knife dan... dan wasnt hitting kPI like in any job ... management wanted him gone. it wasnt oscar, Dan had lost that seat weeks ago, the company were looking for somebody to drive it. if not oscar it was some one else. ? If oscar said no, dan wouldnt have kept the seat.. Mclaren had plenty wanting it.

Oscar did noting wrong, he was facing another year out of a car or at williams or another back marker. A good team offers him a chance.. .what would you do

its all well and good being the big smile good bloke joker if you are doing a good job, but if youre not doing your job well but still acting the clown, the bosses dont like it.. just like any job. but in this job there are millions of dollars and publicity and prestige riding on him. He was hurting the whole company to the tune of millions per year, it was a strictly business decision.

who knows maybe he can do an albon.. change team, change attitude and find his buried talent.. it is there
(and Im a Dan fan)

Mind you dan has often expressed an interest in bathurst.. supercars or Gt3... maybe he will come home he is well cashed up (is one of the top 3 paid drivers right now)

[bathurst77]

i guess all we need to know now is what number Oscar will carry for his career?

[Sandgroper]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

Thats crap.. shame on you

If you want to get to the top , best in the world, you have to have that winner take all - do what it takes attitude

Oscar didnt shaft or knife dan... dan wasnt hitting kPI like in any job ... management wanted him gone. it wasnt oscar, Dan had lost that seat weeks ago, the company were looking for somebody to drive it. if not oscar it was some one else. ? If oscar said no, dan wouldnt have kept the seat.. Mclaren had plenty wanting it.

Oscar did noting wrong, he was facing another year out of a car or at williams or another back marker. A good team offers him a chance.. .what would you do

its all well and good being the big smile good bloke joker if you are doing a good job, but if youre not doing your job well but still acting the clown, the bosses dont like it.. just like any job. but in this job there are millions of dollars and publicity and prestige riding on him. He was hurting the whole company to the tune of millions per year, it was a strictly business decision.

who knows maybe he can do an albon.. change team, change attitude and find his buried talent.. it is there
(and Im a Dan fan)

Mind you dan has often expressed an interest in bathurst.. supercars or Gt3... maybe he will come home he is well cashed up (is one of the top 3 paid drivers right now)

Settle Down mate, take a rest. Its just terrible to see 3 Aussies torching for seats. Yep DR hasnt dont himeself any favours. I for one hope he ends up back at AP. Seems like a better car for him.

Otherwise a 20mill year off holiday wont be a bad payday.

[Richard C]

It is interesting that we are seeing reports that July 31st was not a magical date regarding Alpine's option to take up Piastri for 2023 season. (Bolds in quotes below are mine)

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/m...2023/10349014/

It’s believed that Piastri’s ability to walk away from Alpine is based on a claim that his 2023 deal with the team was never properly signed. The July 31 date – widely believed to be related to an option the team had on him – is understood to have no special relevance.

https://racingnews365.com/revealed-p...claren-in-2023

RacingNews365.com understands that Piastri has a contract with Alpine for 2022, but not for 2023. His 2022 deal is said to contain an option on Piastri's services for 2023, but that option was not exercised within the required 30 days of signing that contract.

If the above is correct, then Alpine would have had to exercise their option within 30 days of them signing him for 2022? Frankly that seems odd to me. In that what would 30 extra days give Alpine? I would have thought that a 2023 option would exist through much of 2022 season. I assume his 2022 contract with Alpine was signed late 2021 or early 2022? So then his option would have expired a long long time ago?

Regardless, it sounds like Alpine had really let him slip through their fingers a long time before this new drama. Or... maybe they thought they had the option and they just didn't fully understand the contract. Maybe too many senior managers rotating through at Alpine and reality was not in sync with with their understanding. Contract said X and they thought it said Y? In the business world, I have seen this happen. New management comes in and have "verbal" understanding of contracts (someone internally gives them a summary based upon their understanding only). Then there is a dispute and ONLY then do they actually look at the paper and sometime are surprised at what they find.

Richard

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

It is interesting that we are seeing reports that July 31st was not a magical date regarding Alpine's option to take up Piastri for 2023 season. (Bolds in quotes below are mine)

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/m...2023/10349014/



https://racingnews365.com/revealed-p...claren-in-2023



If the above is correct, then Alpine would have had to exercise their option within 30 days of them signing him for 2022? Frankly that seems odd to me. In that what would 30 extra days give Alpine? I would have thought that a 2023 option would exist through much of 2022 season. I assume his 2022 contract with Alpine was signed late 2021 or early 2022? So then his option would have expired a long long time ago?

Regardless, it sounds like Alpine had really let him slip through their fingers a long time before this new drama. Or... maybe they thought they had the option and they just didn't fully understand the contract. Maybe too many senior managers rotating through at Alpine and reality was not in sync with with their understanding. Contract said X and they thought it said Y? In the business world, I have seen this happen. New management comes in and have "verbal" understanding of contracts (someone internally gives them a summary based upon their understanding only). Then there is a dispute and ONLY then do they actually look at the paper and sometime are surprised at what they find.

Richard

And remember most countries view ambiguity in a contract favors the receiver not the writer of said contract, not all the time but it's a general starting point. It's a hard and fast US rule for McLaren to learn in the future.

[bathurst77]

so will oscar now get those friday p1 sessions in an alpine?

[AndreasDavour]

Alpine really has come across as totally lost in all of this.



Nick Daman said in Midweek Motorsport that Alpine probably misjudged how much Alonso values himself, and thought a one year with a plan to be sidelined for a youngster and put in their Le Mans car would go over fine, while in reality it just insulted the Great Man.


While I think that reasoning might have some value, I wonder a bit why Renault have had such a hard time to get back to the very top? Is this total cock up an insight of how badly organized they are internally, and what Alonso has seen and realized they wont be getting any better?

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by AndreasDavour

Nick Daman said in Midweek Motorsport that Alpine probably misjudged how much Alonso values himself

Is Daman saying Fernando Alonso has a large ego... and in other news water is wet?

It's good that, according to Dieter Rencken at Racing News 365, that this is all sorted at least.

Piastri in black and orange, great stuff! And, if Ricciardo wants to continue in F1, then Ricciardo in pink and blue might work out rather well too.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by AndreasDavour

While I think that reasoning might have some value, I wonder a bit why Renault have had such a hard time to get back to the very top?

Before the budget cap, Alpine or Renault were trying to do F1 on the cheap with only a fraction of the budget of Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari and their win-at-any-cost mentality. [Renault only had around half the budget IIRC and refused to invest in basic tools like the $40m AVL chassis dynos which those top 3 teams have.]

[GT6]

i must admit the whole situation just makes me laugh, drivers past thier prime squabling over seats in cars that are at best mid field and young drivers with good backing buying seats, sounds like things in F! never change.

[wolfhound]

Peter Windsors take on all the various Alpine Mclaren driver moves.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVOy7lr2D-E


I suspect there are quite a few people kicking themselves and I wonder what Ricciardo will do. Could he appear at the first race next season ready to race a Mclaren and find Piastri sitting in it. I suspect no matter what if Piastri ends up in a Mclaren it is going to cost a lot regardless of where Ricciardo drives (or not).

[AndreasDavour]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

Is Daman saying Fernando Alonso has a large ego... and in other news water is wet?

Yeah, I know it's just as wet as always. But, maybe the French actually forgot it!

[AndreasDavour]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

Before the budget cap, Alpine or Renault were trying to do F1 on the cheap with only a fraction of the budget of Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari and their win-at-any-cost mentality. [Renault only had around half the budget IIRC and refused to invest in basic tools like the $40m AVL chassis dynos which those top 3 teams have.]

It's almost like they didn't really want to win.


But, sometimes it's an attitude thing. When Audi and Porsche spent like crazy, Toyota kept it rather small and still won.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by AndreasDavour

Yeah, I know it's just as wet as always. But, maybe the French actually forgot it!

To be accurate, water isn't wet. It makes other things wet.

[AndreasDavour]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

Peter Windsors take on all the various Alpine Mclaren driver moves.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVOy7lr2D-E


I suspect there are quite a few people kicking themselves and I wonder what Ricciardo will do. Could he appear at the first race next season ready to race a Mclaren and find Piastri sitting in it. I suspect no matter what if Piastri ends up in a Mclaren it is going to cost a lot regardless of where Ricciardo drives (or not).

Everyone seems to know what will happen. Personally I would wait until the dust settles. McLaren have a lot of drivers that might or might not race for them, but I think one thing they can't afford is lawsuits over contracts.



We'll see, I guess.

[skycafe]

More music enters the the game of musical chairs?

https://youtu.be/HEkroZKgxI0

[BTCC frog]

Apparently there *might* be a performance clause in Pierre Gasly's contract that would allow him to move to Alpine from Alpha Tauri. This is just a rumour and I have no idea how much substance it holds. But in this case, it leaves a spot open at Alpha Tauri and I can't imagine they would be happy with a lineup of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, so maybe we could end up with a 2019-like situation where they decide to bring back an old Red Bull junior. Alex Albon would make sense except he's just signed for Williams, so maybe it will be Daniil Kvyat getting yet another chance with the team. I would love for it to be Buemi or Vergne but think that is highly unlikely.

[Greem]

The situation in Ukraine renders any discussion of Kvyat moot. The FIA currently will not permit any Russian drivers to race (unless they quietly removed that rule).

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Greem

The situation in Ukraine renders any discussion of Kvyat moot. The FIA currently will not permit any Russian drivers to race (unless they quietly removed that rule).

Unless they get a different licence of course. Then it’s no problem.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Unless they get a different licence of course. Then it’s no problem.

Isnt Kvyat currently doing some NASCAR races in the US. Not FIA governed of course.