2022 Formula 1 Season thread

[Phil77354]

Awkward

Oscar Piastri insists ‘I will not be driving for Alpine next year’ after team announce him as Alonso’s replacement | Formula 1®

Oscar Piastri has taken to his social media channels to say that he "will not be driving for Alpine next year", hours after the team announced they would be promoting him to a full time race seat in 2023.

www.formula1.com

My only comment re Piastri and Alpine is astonishment at how clueless the Alpine management must have been to make such an announcement without first securing the agreement of the driver! Almost as intelligent as some of the recent Ferrari race decisions . . .

. . . That NDA the FIA have with Masi I am sure is to cover up interference from Liberty. . . .

We'll never know, but more likely it is simply to achieve two things: first to keep the financial settlement private, and second to obtain a written obligation for Masi to refrain from criticizing FIA. Basically it is hush money to satisfy him financially sufficiently to avoid bad-mouthing FIA going forward.

 

[CWallace]

My only comment re Piastri and Alpine is astonishment at how clueless the Alpine management must have been to make such an announcement without first securing the agreement of the driver!

To be fair, there might not have been a need to secure agreement if Piastri was under contract with Alpine to take the seat if either Alonso or Ocon were unable or unwilling to drive.

Zak Brown seems to have been making a lot of deals with a lot of drivers' management teams and it's now down to the courts in the US and the EU to sort out who ends up where...

 

[Phil77354]

To be fair, there might not have been a need to secure agreement if Piastri was under contract with Alpine to take the seat if either Alonso or Ocon were unable or unwilling to drive.

Zak Brown seems to have been making a lot of deals with a lot of drivers' management teams and it's now down to the courts in the US and the EU to sort out who ends up where...

Contract or not, it was a bonehead move. And it backfired spectacularly. They didn't even have the basic courtesy to tell him that they were making the announcement? It really has little to do with any legal arrangement they might have. They simply did not respect him enough to talk to him first. Maybe they thought it would be some kind of surprise that he would welcome, but given his reaction it seems to me that there should have been knowledge of his ambivalence to making the move. Lots of big egos involved and too few people with some basic common sense, it seems to me.

 

[danny842003]

Not sure why he deserved to win over anybody else last year. He was very aggressive all season and forced Lewis off the circuit at 5 races, even after he was sent into the barrier ms at Silverstone after being told that Lewis wasn’t going to keep yielding to his unsporting driving. He won the most races, lead the most laps but that doesn’t mean he deserved to win the championship, although the new breed of fans seem to think that qualifies. It’s about momentum and scoring the most points throughout the entire season. By Abu Dhabi he had lost a big points lead to Lewis and the last race was all to play for. As it happened Max lost the lead at the first corner of the opening lap and was lost in the race behind Lewis until the incompetence of the FIA following their own rule book.

I’d say this season he is driving well and deserves to be leading the championship. I thought his mentality was poor last year and perhaps that was desperation in trying to win. This year he’s often relaxed, sometimes emotional on the radio, but driving more consistently. I agree he’ll be winning his first championship on merit if he carries on the way he is now.

I think him and Lewis had both done enough to deserve the title on merit over the course of the season. Lewis should have won it but had his engine gone bang on the last lap Max wouldn’t have won by default.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

My only comment re Piastri and Alpine is astonishment at how clueless the Alpine management must have been to make such an announcement without first securing the agreement of the driver! Almost as intelligent as some of the recent Ferrari race decisions . . .


We'll never know, but more likely it is simply to achieve two things: first to keep the financial settlement private, and second to obtain a written obligation for Masi to refrain from criticizing FIA. Basically it is hush money to satisfy him financially sufficiently to avoid bad-mouthing FIA going forward.

Indeed. An NDA is entirely normal when joining a job at a certain level or industry, and it wasn't likely an NDA when he left but a letter to remind him of the various obligations under the existing NDA. Nothing sinister, nothing unusual.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Contract or not, it was a bonehead move. And it backfired spectacularly. They didn't even have the basic courtesy to tell him that they were making the announcement? It really has little to do with any legal arrangement they might have. They simply did not respect him enough to talk to him first. Maybe they thought it would be some kind of surprise that he would welcome, but given his reaction it seems to me that there should have been knowledge of his ambivalence to making the move. Lots of big egos involved and too few people with some basic common sense, it seems to me.

It certainly has. It’s amazing such basic communication is often missing in such a high profile sport like F1. Alpine learned Alonso was leaving via a press statement and this is often the case when parties fall out. Ferrari learned Vettel had signed for Aston Martin on their anniversary by a strategically planned press release I seem to remember. We hear all to often that drivers have learned they’ve been dropped by seeing social media content and it shows a complete lack of professionalism.

Alpine assumed because they had Piastri under contract and he would naturally want the promotion to race seat. A simple conversation was needed though I think as it’s clear he had intentions to maybe move to McLaren and they shouldn’t assume before announcing such news.

I think him and Lewis had both done enough to deserve the title on merit over the course of the season. Lewis should have won it but had his engine gone bang on the last lap Max wouldn’t have won by default.

That would have been an unfortunate but acceptable set of circumstances. A lot luck is needed in motor racing, whether that reliability, strategy, being in the right place at the right time etc. I don’t blame Max for capitalising on the fortune he was given on that last last and had Lewis been given the same opportunity then I have no doubt he as any racing driver would, driven to victory. However, the handling of the accident aftermath was confused and muddled. Masi had Horner pleading for the race to be restarted and Toto reminding him of the regulations. Both men looking after their own best interests.

The FIA admitted the correct procedure was not followed and it’s clear Masi had insufficient support within his team. The rest is history and we saw a shambles of a last lap. Lewis realised before the green light he was going to be incapable of defending his lead and it was inevitable Max was going to breeze past in a race he’d struggled in. A shambolic end to what was an exciting, messy and hard fought season between two drivers. Max admitted afterwards he was very lucky and maybe that has driven his motivation this season to win a championship that is rightfully his and achieved with no questions or controversy.

 

[CWallace]

With their decision to allow the lapped cars to pass through, the officials guaranteed Max would win Abu Dhabi and the WDC because, as noted, Lewis was no match on his worn tires for Max on fresh tires. Maybe the officials didn't see that at the time, or maybe they just wanted Max to win the WDC because they felt yet another Lewis WDC would sap interest in the sport due to Mercedes' commanding dominance of the turbo hybrid era to that point.

But my making that decision, they robbed us of an outcome that still could have resulted in a Max WDC, for if the lapped cars had moved aside and not held Max up, it's reasonable to presume Max would have caught and passed Lewis because he was so much faster (by seconds a sector).

Only if the lapped cars held up Max, would Lewis have likely been able to bring his car home in first.

 

[Glideslope]

Wow, drop off the grid for a week and come back to this Monster Thread. Nice to see it stay civil for the most part as always.

...... going to take a few more days off now........

 

[pachyderm]

Totally light with me mate, just won’t be told I shouldn’t discuss a topic still very much relevant with the sport and one that divides opinion so broadly. It goes back to my frustration that Liberty have attracted people who only care about controversy and entertainment and are happy with political intervention if it supports a driver they prefer.

All cool with me though, nobody has to respond if they don’t want to

This bit.

My problem is with Liberty.

Turning it into NF1L ...

Wait until they adopt that stupid ass points system of nascar...

wait yet again, they already have the stupid point system but not the stupid playoff system...

 

[Apple fanboy]

Could be worse. Could introduce fan boost or whatever stupid idea they use in Formula E. I don’t want to see cars going faster because they have more likes than another.

 

[danny842003]

Well, well, this is a tad bit awkward for Ricciardo.
And, I really like him. Not sure he deserves this type of treatment...

He doesn’t deserve another year in that team (it’s just awful for everyone) and he seemed to be either too proud or too greedy to admit it.
It is **** but so long as he gets another seat it’s the best for everyone. This misery just needs to end.

 

[danny842003]

Contract or not, it was a bonehead move. And it backfired spectacularly. They didn't even have the basic courtesy to tell him that they were making the announcement? It really has little to do with any legal arrangement they might have. They simply did not respect him enough to talk to him first. Maybe they thought it would be some kind of surprise that he would welcome, but given his reaction it seems to me that there should have been knowledge of his ambivalence to making the move. Lots of big egos involved and too few people with some basic common sense, it seems to me.

My understating is Oscar and Mark Webber wouldn’t accept the calls so they just did what the believed was legally correct. If nothing else it shone a light on it and made Maclarens life as hard as their own.
By alpines logic Piastri has already agreed to the contract so it was just a formality to announce it.
It doesn’t look great on anyone though, if Webber believes their interpretation of the contract is correct then why ghost Alpine?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

He doesn’t deserve another year in that team (it’s just awful for everyone) and he seemed to be either too proud or too greedy to admit it.
It is **** but so long as he gets another seat it’s the best for everyone. This misery just needs to end.

Unfortunately he hasn’t performed and that may have been excusable in the first part of last season but he’s still way behind Lando in terms of performance. He’s paid a significant salary and a lot more than Lando due to his experience and promise when joining the team but it just hasn’t worked out. People may highlight that he’s won McLaren’s only win in 10 years, but it was off the back of poor performances and those poor performances followed. Lando perhaps deserved that win more in 2021 as he’d consistently finished ahead, but that’s racing. Ricciardo hasn’t lived up to his promise.

His best option is to hope he gets the Alpine seat but if we remember he left that team under a cloud after them finding out he was leaving via the press. I think teams will be more inclined to try a cheap rookie than pay a higher fee for a driver who hasn’t been on top of his game since 2018. One rumour is he may take a sabbatical in 2023 and come back in 2024 to replace the retiring Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. Now that would be a huge surprise

 

[CWallace]

Daniel's best move might be to follow Kimi when he was dropped by Ferrari and take a huge payout from McLaren in exchange for staying out of F1 for 2023.

He could even drive for Alpine next year, just in their A480 HyperCar in WEC rather than in F1.

 

[danny842003]

Daniel's best move might be to follow Kimi when he was dropped by Ferrari and take a huge payout from McLaren in exchange for staying out of F1 for 2023.

He could even drive for Alpine next year, just in their A480 HyperCar in WEC rather than in F1.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the pay out.
Perhaps Mclaren could make him sit it out but a good section of the public feel like they’ve done him dirty so that might not be a path they want to pursue.
As bad as he has been and as much as he is paid the comments over the Monaco weekend weren’t a great look for the team.

 

[pachyderm]

 

[pachyderm]

 

[Apple fanboy]

Your timer is wrong. Shouldn’t it have gone down in the 27 minutes between posts? 😜

 

[pachyderm]

 

[Pilot Jones]

I'm having serious F1 withdrawals. Race Week cannot come soon enough.

 

[CWallace]

Was recommended this fellow on another forum I follow for F1 and he's pretty good so posting his latest:

 

[Pilot Jones]

Was recommended this fellow on another forum I follow for F1 and he's pretty good so posting his latest:

I was just recommended this video too yesterday. It's probably the only one that looks at the other side of this Alpine/McLaren fiasco and presents a compelling reason why McLaren is not absolved of this mess. Especially when it comes to handling their drivers.

The entire breakdown of what happened in Indycar and how on the surface, McLaren seems to have amassed a roster of young talent with false promises of F1 is a pretty bad look. Especially considering the potential line-up of Norris & Piastri who are both young and the latter of whom will probably get a long contract just like the former.

 

[CWallace]

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has stated that there are no plans for Russia to return to the F1 calendar at this time.

Presumably, this stance will remain in force while Russia continues combat operations in Ukraine.

Formula 1 CEO: 'No more racing in Russia'

US-MOTOR-F1-RUSSIA:Formula 1 CEO: 'No more racing in Russia'

www.msn.com

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

The news we’ve all been expecting is finally announced. The question is, what will he do next??

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has stated that there are no plans for Russia to return to the F1 calendar at this time.

Presumably, this stance will remain in force while Russia continues combat operations in Ukraine.

Formula 1 CEO: 'No more racing in Russia'

US-MOTOR-F1-RUSSIA:Formula 1 CEO: 'No more racing in Russia'

www.msn.com

I think it will last long after any conflict has finished to be honest. There will be decades of trust to build back with the West and right now, that’s the best decision the sport could make. If only Saudi could also be taken off the calendar next as it almost seems hypocritical to judge Russia and not them after the humanitarian catastrophe they caused in Yemen. Anyway, enough politics, let’s have some decent tracks back and save Spa!!