How McLaren swooped for Piastri (with Mark Webber's help) after Alpine dropped ball
One of racing's hottest hopes was snatched from the team that funded him to the brink of F1. Adam Cooper how McLaren's audacious deal with Alpine junior Oscar Piastri came about
We had to wait four days for the verdict of the Contract Recognition Board on Oscar Piastri to come through, and when it arrived McLaren got the nod and was confirmed as the young Australian’s home for at least the next two years.
In truth it wasn’t a huge surprise. While saying nothing officially on the matter, McLaren always appeared confident that it had spotted an opportunity left open by Alpine and had gratefully taken it.
As recognised by the CRB the simple fact is that Alpine dropped the ball, and hadn’t properly secured the future services of Piastri. He wasn’t properly tied down for the future, despite the millions invested in him, and McLaren was able to sign him as a free agent.
“From what we had signed, we were very confident this was going to be the outcome”
“Yes, we were very comfortable in our situation,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown noted after the verdict came through. “And Oscar and his management were very transparent with us throughout the entire process. And from what we knew and what we had signed, we were very confident this was going to be the outcome.”
At the end of the day it was a brilliant bit of Piranha Club business. Several other teams would have jumped at the chance of taking Piastri out of Alpine’s hands – not least Red Bull, whose boss Christian Horner knows him from his spell with the Horner family-run Arden team.
Piastri’s manager, Mark Webber (right), flagged his availability to McLaren
Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
But it was McLaren who spotted the opportunity, or rather were alerted to it by Piastri’s manager Mark Webber.
It’s part of the job of any team boss to be aware of who is coming through the ranks. Sometimes you can find the right guy when he’s young and bring him through yourself, as McLaren did with Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, and sometimes you have to go out on the market and see who is out there.
The unusual aspect of this case was Piastri hasn’t even started an F1 race yet. Alpine had done all the hard work and brought him to the verge of F1 before losing him.
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“Well, obviously signing a driver in the end is a result of several conversations,” says McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl. “It’s clear for a team like us when you have the opportunity to sign a guy like Oscar, with the pace he has shown and with the personality he is, you want to have him.
“He was a free agent, and that’s why we discussed with him to make a contract, and that’s pretty much it.
“It’s obviously my job together with Zak to always in any scenario be aware of what the driver market is, what the contractual situation of all the drivers in the paddock is as well, or the contractual situation of rookies in F2, in other categories, which is a normal process, and it’s also our responsibility. And that’s what in the end led to the signing of Oscar Piastri.”
Piastri put himself on the F1 radar with F2 championship — immediately after F3 success
Joe Portlock/F1 via Getty Images
Back in 2018 Red Bull’s Helmut Marko made no secret of his interest in Norris, then racing in F2. The gist of it was if McLaren doesn’t take up its option and give him an F1 race seat next year, we’ll take him.
The Red Bull scenario was never going to happen given Brown’s personal connections with Norris and the strength of the youngster’s relationship with McLaren, but it shows why contracts with young drivers need to be watertight. There’s always someone ready to pounce.
“Well, Marko wasn’t able to get Lando, because we had a contract with Lando,” says Brown.
“I just think if you have a driver in your stable, you need to have a contract with them. Because it’s very competitive, as we know. And all teams are always looking around to get the best talent they can. And if you don’t have a contract, then you’re vulnerable.”
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It helped of course that Webber has a good relationship with Seidl, fostered during his three seasons with the Porsche WEC team in 2014-’16, when the German was his boss
“For sure, we had conversations with Mark as well throughout this process, which is important,” says Seidl.
“It’s important for drivers in these days in this complex environment in F1 as well that you have let’s say a team around you that helps you also, let’s say in finding the right opportunities, and helps you also getting started in F1.
“And I think Mark will be with all his experience will be a great help for Oscar to get started in F1 with us.”
Seidl was clearly frustrated by some of the criticism levelled at Piastri and Webber, which was obviously stoked by Alpine.
“Well, regarding the comments we have seen from the other parties not for us to comment,” he says. “I think you have to ask them. For us, to be honest, it was quite straightforward.
Piastri signed his McLaren contract in July
Clive Mason/Getty Images
“There’s two things you need to have in place, if you want to have a driver driving for you in F1, which is a contract, and the registration with the contract recognition board. That’s what we have put in place in July. And therefore, our plan was clear.”
He continues: “I was a bit surprised about some of the comments I’ve read also from people that had no detailed knowledge of what was actually happening.
“And I think some of these comments were therefore also inappropriate, and not fair. And yeah, it was not respecting what was happening.
“And if I just look at myself in such a situation, if I only know what happened from one side, I try to stay away from making comments on it. And I think that’s also important to mention in order to protect Oscar.”
It’s easy to blame Szafnauer for this fiasco, but it’s worth recalling that he only took over the team principal job earlier this year. Cyril Abiteboul and latterly Marcin Budkowski were in charge during Piastri’s first years under the Renault/Alpine banner.
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“Well, all this happened in November of last year,” Szafnauer said on Saturday. “So I guess it’s easy to blame people that aren’t here anymore. But that’s not my style. So the right thing to do is to have a look at what happened, understand where the shortcomings were, and fix them for the future.”
The timing of events remains intriguing. In an interview with the F1 website published on Saturday Piastri made it clear that Alpine was informed of the plan to go to McLaren well before it became public.
The CRB judgement indicated that Piastri’s McLaren contract was signed on July 4, begging the question when exactly did he or his management inform Alpine?
“It was much later than 4 July, number one,” says Szafnauer. “And up until that point, it’s just conjecture, really. And we knew exactly what Oscar had signed with us. And we were pursuing that.
“And that’s the reason for pursuing it up until the point where we got written notification saying that we can’t drive for you. And then we started investigating to the CRB.”
And when did Alpine became away of the specific significance of that particular date?
“There were some rumours, it’s not like we’re oblivious to it”
“As you can imagine, at that point in time, there were some rumours,” says Szafnauer.
“So it’s not like we’re oblivious to it. However, to answer your question, the July 4th date was made apparent when we had our submissions to the CRB. So that was a few days ago.”
Another curious aspect of the case is that it was widely assumed that Piastri would be placed at Williams on loan in 2023 while Fernando Alonso continued at Alpine. Piastri would then be brought back to Enstone in 2024 or possibly 2025, if Alonso ultimately stayed for an extra year.
In other words we have assumed that when he signed Piastri in effect turned down the Grove team, rather than Alpine itself, in favour of taking the McLaren seat. However, Szafnauer is cagey about how far those talks had got.
“Well, we had discussions for sure. There are many considerations for them [Williams], but we were definitely progressing that. It never came to a conclusion or fruition, so it’s hard to say, but there were discussions.”
Partnership between Norris and Piastri could be something special
Antonin Vincent / DPPI
So why is Piastri the right man for McLaren? Lots of junior champions make it to F1, but his string of three successive titles in Formula Renault, F3 and F2, with the latter two both achieved in his rookie year, have marked him out as someone special.
“In the end, we wanted to get Oscar on board for two reasons,” says Seidl. “First of all, he has shown as a race driver, with his success he had in his junior career, especially in F3, and F2, winning it first time each year, that he’s a great talent, and has a lot of potential.
“But also the way, [as] Zak and myself got to know him, in terms of personality, we think he’s a perfect fit for us. He’s, he’s young, full of energy, ambitious, I think he has the right level of self-confidence as well. But at the same time he’s very humble, he’s fully aware of the big challenge that is ahead of him.
“Looking at the line-up we will have next year, it’s very exciting”
“And that’s why I wanted to get him on board. He wanted to be with us. And that’s why we’re very happy that we could announce he’s with us from next year onwards.”
Seidl knows that it won’t be easy to go up against Norris, but he’s confident that the Aussie will get the job done.
“I think we have shown also as a team that we are a good place to start for a rookie. I’m fully aware of the challenge that is for Oscar as well.
“I’m fully aware that we also need to give him the right amount of time also in order to build it up. I think looking at the line-up we will have next year, it’s very exciting.
“We have Lando, he’s in his fifth year of F1 then, who has shown in the last year through the steps he also made that he has everything he needs to become one of the best ones in this sport, knowing that he will still improve, only being in year four now, which is an exciting outlook.
“And then having a rookie like Oscar next to him, who has shown that he has a lot of potential. This is an exciting outlook. And I’m looking forward to work with this driver line-up in the next years.”
Indeed the Norris/Piastri combination could be something quite special.
“I think we’ve got one of the most exciting driver line-ups for the foreseeable future, two young very fast champion drivers,” says Brown. “We’ve been on this journey to get back to the front, we still have a way to go.
“You need two great drivers, you also need a really fast race car and we continue to work on that, and still have a lot of improvement to make.
“But as you look down the road and the racing team that Andreas has built, I like the journey we’re on, and having two young drivers that you can see keeping for the foreseeable future and having stability is a very important part of getting back to being a championship contender.”
