McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo are unwillingly dragged out by the opening of the quagmire between Oscar Piastri and the Alpine F1 team.
The implication of this shocking quagmire is simple. Piastri will replace Daniel Ricciardo as McLaren’s Formula 1 driver in 2023 if the plans of Oscar Piastri’s camp, led by former F1 driver Mark Webber, go well.
Without that assurance, Oscar Piastri’s camp would not refuse Alpine F1 Team’s 2023 race seat or pursue legal action.
This leads to another assumption that Oscar Piastri’s management must have, or think it has, something very definite once morest McLaren.
It is true that Oscar Piastri has been explicitly advised to publicly denounce his current employer, the Alpine F1 team. It would be very negligent to do so without a safety net.
But what regarding McLaren? Assuming the deal with Oscar Piastri isn’t far off the mark, there are two scenarios here.
Daniel Ricciardo has informed McLaren of his plans to leave F1 or his willingness to exercise an option to terminate his contract early, suggesting talks have begun. It has therefore prompted McLaren to participate in preliminary negotiations with Oscar Piastri’s representatives, possibly agreed in principle.
Another might be McLaren’s willingness to do what it takes to ‘persuade’ Daniel Ricciardo to walk away with Oscar Piastri as his successor. But that doesn’t seem to benefit McLaren.
But whatever McLaren’s strategy was, it was in fact Oscar Piastri’s statement that the desire to keep the secret was dashed in public controversy.
McLaren now appears to be in the middle of two separate cases of “two teams claiming ownership of one driver”.
McLaren announced that it had signed reigning IndyCar champion Palou hours following Chip Ganassi Racing claimed it had activated an option to keep him until 2023 in his contract with Alex Palou.
The wise thing is that there has been no announcement from McLaren so far. The Alex Palou situation is perhaps a good lesson in why. It’s not best to file a claim once morest a driver who appears to be entering into a legal dispute with his current employer.
McLaren, wanting to remain silent, ended up reluctantly participating in the Silly season. But still a participant.
Oscar Piastri has no other aspirations than the Alpine F1 team unless a McLaren F1 seat is guaranteed. To do that, McLaren will need to guarantee Daniel Ricciardo’s departure.
However, Daniel Ricciardo has an option to end the relationship with McLaren. So to clear up the confusion between Oscar Piastri and the Alpine F1 team, attention needs to be refocused on Ricciardo and McLaren.
Category: F1 / Daniel Ricardo / mclaren / Oscar Piastri
