The Official F1 2023 silly season *contains speculation*

[Piginapoke]

ch37 said:

llewop said:

So a week on, other than Otmar's hissy fit about what wasn't necessarily in a contract and grumbling about 'lack of loyalty' (compare and contrast with 'spirit of the regulations...'), we've got no further actual news. Just lots of speculation 'it appears that...',

Not convinced this is going to play out as many are speculating.

Indeed. Lots of 'facts' being posted here and on social media but even if some turn out to be correct, there are very, very few 'facts' right now, especially when it comes to the specifics of various contracts.

I would guess it's unlikely we ever to get to hear the full ins and outs, knowing F1 (and Alonso being part of the story!) it's murkier than even the wildest of guesses!

With the mid season break, and the Contracts Recognition Board probably getting involved, they’ll not be any news for a while.

[PhilAsia]

Piginapoke said:

With the mid season break, and the Contracts Recognition Board probably getting involved, they’ll not be any news for a while.

I often get notes for the milkman, unsettled bills and contracts muddled up. Great to see they have people onto it and shedding some light!

[ch37]

Piginapoke said:

With the mid season break, and the Contracts Recognition Board probably getting involved, they’ll not be any news for a while.

And if I've understood correctly, the CRB outcome could be seperate from any grievance Alpine have which could go to court (or more likely a never to be disclosed settlement).

A signature on one valid contract and not on another doesn't necessarily mean there were not shenanigans going on in the background to lead up to that.

[carl_w]

ch37 said:

And if I've understood correctly, the CRB outcome could be seperate from any grievance Alpine have which could go to court (or more likely a never to be disclosed settlement).

Presumably the CRB have seen the Piastri/Alpine contract as well and deemed that the McLaren one is the valid one. That's why the CRB was set up. Alpine is a huge organization and if they have invested that much in Piastri's career surely their in-house lawyers could have made sure their contract with him was legally watertight?

[vaud]

carl_w said:

Presumably the CRB have seen the Piastri/Alpine contract as well and deemed that the McLaren one is the valid one. That's why the CRB was set up. Alpine is a huge organization and if they have invested that much in Piastri's career surely their in-house lawyers could have made sure their contract with him was legally watertight?

The rumour is/was that it wasn’t lodged with the CRB (a condition of recognition)

[carl_w]

vaud said:

The rumour is/was that it wasn’t lodged with the CRB (a condition of recognition)

That would seem to be another oversight on Alpine's part then.

[Stealthracer]

jsf said:

A legal contract trumps shenanigans.

And there was me thinking we'd seen the last of trump's shenanigans.

[ghost83]

If it’s anything like Jenson buttons bar/Williams contract which was very similar then piastri could end up being at alpine still!
If it’s true he signed a contract with Mclaren on the 29th/30th July but alpine had an option on him till the 31st wouldn’t that make mclarens contract null and void anyway?

[Sandpit Steve]

llewop said:

Adrian W said:

Isn't it the summer break?

That did cross my mind, but then Otmar having his grumble got me thinking that some activities that were not technical might not be covered by the shutdown, for instance it would be bonkers to shut down their accounts and stop paying the staff or suppliers.

Just looked at the sporting regulations and the shutdown seems very much focused on factory and/or design. Even then repair of damage is allowed and prep for the next event, so as with most things, never quite a complete 'lights out, lock the door'.

But it could just be that with most having found somewhere quiet to take a break that getting something to move forward right now isn't a priority or even possible. Will probably ramp up a few days before Spa. In the vacuum after the gasp at the Apline message and it's followup from Piastri there was an expection of something more... that hasn't happened.

Yes, the summer shutdown is only for the departments involved in developing the car, engineers and mechanics. Marketing and finance teams still work, and it’s a busy time for IT upgrades and factory refurbishments, with it being the only two weeks of the year that most people are absent.

[Finlandese]

If a contract has not been lodged with the CRB, wouldn’t that mean only that the CRB can not be used as an arbiter. The contract is still a contract. Enforcing it would then be via courts, not via CRB.

Edited by Finlandese on Tuesday 9th August 11:13

[Adrian W]

I'm still hoping Piastri falls on his arse and ends up without a drive

[vaud]

Adrian W said:

I'm still hoping Piastri falls on his arse and ends up without a drive

Why? He's no Dan Ticktum... and he has a serious amount of talent. He may be being badly advised, or very well advised, we don't know enough?

[carl_w]

Finlandese said:

If a contract has not been lodged with the CRB, wouldn’t that mean only that the CRB can not be used as an arbiter. The contract is still a contract. Enforcing it would then be via courts, not via CRB.

Edited by Finlandese on Tuesday 9th August 11:13

You may well be right. I found this:
"On another occasion in 1997 the decision of the Contract Recognition Board that Giancarlo Fisichella had a contract with Jordan for 1998 was later over-ruled in the High Court in London because the Benetton team's option on Fisichella was not included in the contract registered at the CRB. Because it was not Jordan's fault that the option was not registered Benetton was ordered to pay Jordan $2.4m in compensation."

Which means if Alpine goes legal presumably McLaren could get some compo as it's not their fault that the Alpine contract isn't registered with the CRB.

[Adrian W]

vaud said:

Adrian W said:

I'm still hoping Piastri falls on his arse and ends up without a drive

Why? He's no Dan Ticktum... and he has a serious amount of talent. He may be being badly advised, or very well advised, we don't know enough?

I was never that convinced, I think the one with a serious amount of talent is Dennis Hauger

[Sandpit Steve]

vaud said:

Adrian W said:

I'm still hoping Piastri falls on his arse and ends up without a drive

Why? He's no Dan Ticktum... and he has a serious amount of talent. He may be being badly advised, or very well advised, we don't know enough?

His manager is Mark Webber, who one might assume understands these things. It’s not a good look though, after all the testing Alpine have been giving him this year in lieu of an F1 seat.

The list of drivers who won the top F3 category and F2 in consecutive seasons, is as follows:

Lewis Hamilton
Charles Lerclerc
George Russell
Oscar Piastri

He’s a future world champion IMHO, if he can get a decent drive.

[vaud]

Adrian W said:

I was never that convinced, I think the one with a serious amount of talent is Dennis Hauger

Successive F3 and F2 championships? How high do you want to set the bar?

[Graveworm]

Finlandese said:

If a contract has not been lodged with the CRB, wouldn’t that mean only that the CRB can not be used as an arbiter. The contract is still a contract. Enforcing it would then be via courts, not via CRB.

Edited by Finlandese on Tuesday 9th August 11:13

it also depends on the contract - many stipulate which resolution method will be employed. I thought Alpine were talking about the possibility of going to court for compensation once CRB had ruled on the validity of the contracts, not to challenge their decision.

Edited by Graveworm on Tuesday 9th August 13:24

[EDLT]

Ricciardo seeking $21 million to go away
https://www.speedcafe.com/2022/08/09/ricciardo-see...

Only a mere $5 million more than (world champion) Raikkonen got when he left Ferrari early.

[CardinalBlue]

Not hugely surprisng, but Otmar says they are likley to head to court to sue Piastri should he not end up there next year.

Does say that a Heads of Terms agreement for 2023 was signed in November.


https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/piastri-c...

[lambosagogo]

CardinalBlue said:

Not hugely surprisng, but Otmar says they are likley to head to court to sue Piastri should he not end up there next year.

Does say that a Heads of Terms agreement for 2023 was signed in November.


https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/piastri-c...

But Heads of Terms are not legally binding are they? They're just an agreement on what you're going to include in an actual binding contract later. If that's all they had then that's not much.