Oscar Piastri will compete for McLaren in 2023 after signing a multi-year contract with the British team as Alpine currently regards the contract situation as resolved.
The FIA’s Contract Recognition Board met on Monday to discuss Alpine and Piastri’s contract predicament. Although the meeting’s outcome is unknown, McLaren and Alpine’s respective releases suggest that there will be litigation between the parties involved.
The deal between McLaren and Piastri is dated July 4, 2022, the Monday following the championship race at Silverstone, according to the CRB’s brief notice. That’s significantly earlier than most people anticipated, given reports of McLaren’s interest in Piastri didn’t surface until a few weeks later.
Additionally, it took McLaren seven weeks to officially announce Daniel Ricciardo’s departure after the two parties reached an early contract termination agreement, even though this had been under negotiation for some time.
The head of the McLarean F1 team, Andreas Seidl, was asked if Ricciardo was aware Piastri had signed on July 4 and he responded, “I won’t go into any details of the conversations I’m having with Daniel, but throughout the last month, as we have said, also last week, we always had an open and transparent dialogue with Daniel, where we both stand in our partnership.”
The Woking-based team McLaren officially welcomed the 2023 driver who will compete with Lando Norris in 2023.
“Oscar is one of the up-and-coming talents coming through the feeder series into F1 and we are delighted to see him join the team for 2023,” said McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown. “Winning both F3 and F2 in successive rookie seasons is a real achievement and testament to his talent in single-seater racing.”
“In Lando and Oscar we have a young, exciting F1 line-up with a huge amount of potential, standing us in good stead to achieve our future ambitions.”
“Oscar is an exciting addition to the McLaren family, and we look forward to seeing him grow with our F1 team.”
Piastri, who triumphed in the FIA Formula 3 and Formula 2 Championships in 2020 and 2021 respectively, is similarly thrilled about the idea of making his Formula 1 debut with the team that has had the second-best record in the history of the race.
“I’m extremely excited to be making my F1 debut with such a prestigious team as McLaren and I’m very grateful for the opportunity that’s been offered to me.”
“The team has a long tradition of giving young talent a chance, and I’m looking forward to working hard alongside Lando to push the team towards the front of the grid.”
“I’m focused on preparing for my F1 debut in 2023 and starting my F1 career in papaya.”
Given Piastri’s strong achievements in motorsport’s junior series, McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl is of the opinion that the young driver is a worthy addition to his squad.
“He has an impressive racing career to date, and we are sure that together with Lando, he will be able to help us move another step forward towards our ambitions,” said Seidl.
“We still have an important job to do this season which the team remains focused on, before we will then ensure Oscar is integrated into the team as quickly as possible and ready for the challenges ahead.”
“We look forward to preparing for an exciting 2023 season together.”
