Motorsport Off Topic Thread

chrismscotland · 2 Aug 2022 at 19:54

SDK^ said:
This reminds me when BAR and Williams both announced they had signed Button

I was thinking exactly the same, didn't that happen twice?

SDK^ · 2 Aug 2022 at 19:59

Mr Jack said:
Theory is that Alpine's contract with Oscar specifies that if they give him a seat he has to take it. So they announced it before McLaren could to get precedence over his negotiations.

Seems Alonso quit at exactly the right moment, so that the contract with Piastri for next year could not be concluded. Piastri's manager is Mark Webber, with whom Alonso is good friends.

Also, Alonso right now

unconfirmed but surely not far away …….

chrismscotland · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:02

https://twitter.com/x/status/1554433588199796737

steve45 · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:17

Well this just got ******* messy, didnt it? I guess they call it silly season for a reason.
This is going to be interesting whilst teams play silly buggers this poor young chaps career is getting ****** about with.

Slam62 · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:17

Err McLaren signed Palou and didn't realise he wasn't a free agent, I would have thought McLarens legal department are a bit cautious now

Slam62 · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:20

steve45 said:
Well this just got ******* messy, didnt it? I guess they call it silly season for a reason.
This is going to be interesting whilst teams play silly buggers this poor young chaps career is getting ****** about with.

Sounds like he knows what he's doing next year, if it is McLaren then they have at least 6 drivers on their books for next year, which actually ties up as they need six.

2 FE
2 F1
2 INDYCAR

chrismscotland · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:20

It would be hilarious if it turned out it wasn't McLaren that were after him and that Daddy Stroll had signed him to partner Alonso at Aston Martin next season
But yeah a total mess and even if contractually Alpine have met an option it looks like there's serious damage to that relationship

Slam62 · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:23

My guess is Rosenqvist and Danny to FE, Lando/Piastri F1, Oward/Rossi in IndyCar,

Mr Jack · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:25

Seems like a bad move from Piastri. McLaren aren't much up from Alpine and he sours the relationship with the team he's working with as test/dev/reserve driver for another half season.

chrismscotland · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:27

Slam62 said:
Sounds like he knows what he's doing next year, if it is McLaren then they have at least 6 drivers on their books for next year, which actually ties up as they need six.

2 FE
2 F1
2 INDYCAR

They're running 3 cars in Indycar next year aren't they?

Slam62 · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:30

chrismscotland said:
They're running 3 cars in Indycar next year aren't they?

I don't know to be honest, it's probable though. But if they tried to sign Palou they could be after another driver. Palou would only drive IndyCar although he qualifies for a superlicence.

MarcLister · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:31

Surely Danny's contract with McLaren is with the F1 team itself and not the parent organisation? So he can't be moved to either FE or Indy without his contract being breached? I thought Danny had the only out clause on his contract for 23 with McLaren not them. So if he says he's staying they can't get rid of him. If Piastri is about to sign for McLaren that implies Danny is either retiring himself or not taking up his clause to stay with McLaren for 23?

Slam62 · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:34

MarcLister said:
Surely Danny's contract with McLaren is with the F1 team itself and not the parent organisation? So he can't be moved to either FE or Indy without his contract being breached? I thought Danny had the only out clause on his contract for 23 with McLaren not them. So if he says he's staying they can't get rid of him. If Piastri is about to sign for McLaren that implies Danny is either retiring himself or not taking up his clause to stay with McLaren for 23?

Yeah I was under the impression he was staying in F1, Andreas Seidl said they were not involved in the silly season and he was staying.

chrismscotland · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:36

MarcLister said:
Surely Danny's contract with McLaren is with the F1 team itself and not the parent organisation? So he can't be moved to either FE or Indy without his contract being breached? I thought Danny had the only out clause on his contract for 23 with McLaren not them. So if he says he's staying they can't get rid of him. If Piastri is about to sign for McLaren that implies Danny is either retiring himself or not taking up his clause to stay with McLaren for 23?

I can't see them being able to force him into FE, sounds more and more like they're going to pay off his contract if the Piastri stuff is true. He'll get another F1 seat anyway, likely the one Piastri was going to be in at Alpine.

MarcLister · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:39

chrismscotland said:
I can't see them being able to force him into FE, sounds more and more like they're going to pay off his contract if the Piastri stuff is true. He'll get another F1 seat anyway, likely the one Piastri was going to be in at Alpine.

So pay off Danny's last year of his contract, pay compensation to Alpine to get Piastri. Perhaps pay compensation to Palou's Indy Car team. Three lots of compensation potentially. I'm guessing McLaren's lawyers are confident this money doesn't come under the budget restrictions then?

Slam62 · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:42

Sounds like Piastri got fed up waiting after all alpine were planning on keeping Alonso, so he must have made arrangements elsewhere. These may not be a better seat, just already signed.

Slam62 · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:44

MarcLister said:
So pay off Danny's last year of his contract, pay compensation to Alpine to get Piastri. Perhaps pay compensation to Palou's Indy Car team. Three lots of compensation potentially. I'm guessing McLaren's lawyers are confident this money doesn't come under the budget restrictions then?

Interestingly the budget cap probably opens up a lot of financial resources for repurposing.

chrismscotland · 2 Aug 2022 at 20:49

A few comments on the old socials pointing to Alonso leaving and Piastri looking elsewhere - could there be more to this? Alpine/Renault thinking about the money they're spending to be mid-grid.......

MarcLister · 2 Aug 2022 at 21:02

Slam62 said:
Sounds like Piastri got fed up waiting after all alpine were planning on keeping Alonso, so he must have made arrangements elsewhere. These may not be a better seat, just already signed.

Didn't Otmar say that if Alpine offered Piastri a seat, he had to drive for them? Is that not a "we have first option on you" clause? So how can Webber and Piastri sign a deal with McLaren before Alpine make their offer? Or is it date restricted? I.e. if Alpine offer a seat by a certain date Piastri is theirs but after this date he's effectively a free agent?

Slam62 said:
Interestingly the budget cap probably opens up a lot of financial resources for repurposing.

Must do.

chrismscotland said:
A few comments on the old socials pointing to Alonso leaving and Piastri looking elsewhere - could there be more to this? Alpine/Renault thinking about the money they're spending to be mid-grid.......

Renault/Alpine pulling out of the sport or selling up? If they were going to sell up then it'd be someone like Audi or Porsche unless they really are Sauber/Red Bull bound respectively? I suppose if Alonso/Piastri knew Alpine were pulling out they'd want to jump but if they knew Alpine were going to sell out they might want to see which company/rich owner took over the team before deciding.

Stu999 · 2 Aug 2022 at 21:06

Interesting from a legal standpoint, you surely can’t force someone to work for you?