The McLaren team boss made reference to the Racing Point sanction in 2020 and the sudden departure of Fernando Alonso to question the head of Alpine, who veiledly criticized Oscar Piastri for an alleged contractual “lack of integrity”.
The Formula 1 paddock was eager to hear what Otmar Szafnauer had to comment on the sudden departure of Fernando Alonso heading to Aston Martin. However, Alpine’s crew chief has ended up making even more headlines for directly and unfriendlyly referring to the other soap opera surrounding the French team: the possible departure of an Oscar Piastri whom everyone places in McLaren as a replacement for the discarded Daniel Ricciardo. And his statements have not taken long to find an interesting reply.
After the Belgian Grand Prix dispute, the ‘contract recognition council’ (Contract Recognition Board) of the FIA will meet to determine the validity of the contractual relationship that unites the Australian with the French brand, and the one that, it is suspected, has already signed with the Woking formation. Regarding this situation, Szafnauer showed his disappointment with the situation in statements to Sky Sports F1, questioning Piastri for not “having a little more integrity” and asking him to remember “what he signed in November.”
“I told Oscar before the announcement was made. He smiled at me and was grateful ».
This Saturday, Szafnauer has fanned the flames of the confrontation a little more, by assuring that he personally communicated the renewal to Piastri and that he did not raise any objection: «I told Oscar before the announcement was made, at that time I was in the simulator. He smiled at me and was grateful. We made the statement very quickly, and we did not want to be in turns with their representatives. In turn, he confirmed that the team learned of Piastri’s prerogative not to continue with them “through social media.”
Despite being immersed in several contractual controversies on both sides of the pond, Brown did not miss the opportunity to question the words of the person in charge of Alpinestarting from the unseemly exit of an Alonso who was also his driver in the past: “I don’t know any of the details of that relationship. I think it would be unfair for me to position myself one way or another because I simply don’t know. But, if we judge recent times, there is the way in which Fernando has left and that Otmar has been caught by surprise».
Credibility and ethics, the crux of the matter
All this, of course, in reference to Alonso’s words on Thursday for the press, where he made it clear that Szafnauer was practically the only person in a position of some responsibility at Alpine who did not know of his departure from the team before it was made public. A clear example of the icy relationship between the two, which was revealed with the absurd controversy of the alleged ‘holidays in Greece’.
And as if this were not enough, as a sign that in this world nobody forgets, the sanction against Racing Point in 2020 for the illegal design of its brakes serves as a final blow by the boss of McLaren Racing. “Also, not long ago, he was fined $400,000, plus 15 points. I’m not sure I have the highest level of credibility to make accusations about ethics».
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Although he did not want to be very specific with the details, Szafnauer did reveal about Piastri that «The contract runs until 2024, with an option at the end of 2023. There is more to it all.” In the case of having to look for a substitute in the market, with potential options such as Daniel Ricciardo, Mick Schumacher or Zhou Guanyu on the table, Szafnauer maintains that “we will wait for Monday or Tuesday, and then we will analyze our situation having good information to make those decisions»referring to the possibility of evaluating «who would occupy the free seat».
And it is that, curiously, both teams are in an important nebula when it comes to making their line-ups, in which the decision of the next few days will play a key role. Depending on which direction Piastri ultimately goes, Alpine or McLaren will have an empty second seat with no clear candidate or designated successor. Be that as it may, it seems that the days of both teams collaborating to the point of allowing Piastri to be a potential ’emergency replacement’ for the British are long gone.
Photos: McLaren F1