[aim120]

FIA is now going to start measuring the floor flex and will release a technical directive.

Toto wolf the boss of mercedes F1 said, he was shocked to hear such loop holes where exploited by other teams and was surprised that they themselves didn't think of this exploit.

According to Race, the two teams that will have to now modify the floor is Redbull and Ferrari.

Redbull has a history of using flexible aero parts to cheat, so its no surprise here.

Mercedes cars need no modification and the performance deficit between them vs redbull, ferrari will now decrease.

[Chetan_Rao]

Silly season has gone right silly!

Alonso exits Alpine for Aston Martin in 2023, Alpine first say they can't confirm Piastri as the replacement due to contract complications, only to put out a statement unilaterally a few hours later that he will indeed be driving for them next year, only to then be contradicted publicly by Piastri that he won't.

Piastri reportedly has been talking to McLaren, presumably to take Ricciardo's seat, who might find himself out of F1 altogether (unless he goes to Alpine himself).

Alpine have now lost a seasoned veteran and a quality prospect in 2 days. To think Ferrari were having a nightmare week.

What a circus!

[akash_v12]

I am by far enjoying this silly season the most I have in a while. Not that it's meant to be like this, but the sheer unprofessionalism shown by drivers and teams alike is making this look a complete circus. Alpine announces Piastri around 2am MEL time without a quote from him and about an hour later, he responds back with a firm statement that he will not be racing for Alpine. All eyes now point to McLaren and Ricciardo who is expected to go back to Alpine.

Shockingly though, this is a very similar situation to the Alex Palou Ganassi-Mclaren situation in Indycar. Interesting to see how both of them will be figured out.

As someone on Twitter rightly said, Sebastian placed the bomb, Nando detonated it

Let the circus begin!

[suhaas307]

Day 3 into the Summer Break and several bombs have already gone off

Alpine has lost two drivers in two days. I honestly believed Alpine was Nando's retirement home, so his announcement came as a shock. Piastri refuting Alpine's claims was even more shocking.

The fact that Otmar had no clue about all this until AMR released their statement smacks of unprofessionalism from both the teams and drivers.

It appears that Ferrari strategists are also moonlighting as Alpine's PR team.

[ValarMorghulis]

Netflix must be licking their fingers for the next season of Drive to Survive

[SilentEngine]

Looks like everybody is thinking they are outsmarting others, will be interesting to see how this works out eventually.

Btw, did Hakkinen announce that he is coming back from his sabbatical to drive for McLaren next year? That announcement is way overdue

[ninjatalli]

So Oscar Piastri is replacing Ricciardo at Mclaren in 2023 it seems. McLaren has reportedly signed Oscar Piastri in a shock move set to shake up the F1 grid and force Daniel Ricciardo out of the team a year early.

It’s unclear whether Ricciardo would be seeking a drive at another team and, if so, which teams he would be interested in dealing with.

Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer said earlier this week that he “didn’t think [it would be] an issue at all” to hire Ricciardo in a straight swap with the defected Piastri despite the older Australian having abandoned the French team at the end of 2020.

Sacking Ricciardo with a year left to run on his contract could prove an expensive decision for Mclaren. The team could face the scenario where it is paying Ricciardo some or all of his wages in 2023 while he drives for another team.

He is believed to be on a salary of around AU$21 million in 2022. Several outlets are reporting McLaren would have to cough up a pay out of approximately AU$19 million to force Ricciardo out of his contract early

Ref: 1, 2

[danlalan]

Oscar Piastri has no loyalty. Hes spent building his career at alpine only to leave them in a complete lurch. Not right even though he may have had to wait it out for another year. Imagine all the Mclaren drivers in there academy and what they must be thinking. They dont have a future seat to look at.

[motorworks]

Would be extremely unfortunate if Ricciardo does indeed find himself without a seat! Sure, he has not been performing well at Mclaren and he has been completely outclassed by his younger team mate, but I’m not sure if Mclaren had to take this route. As a team, Mclaren has lost their best of the rest tag and are clearly lagging significantly behind the top 3 and at times they perform even below Haas, Alpine etc. So, from here, they are not going to suddenly make a huge jump for next year, considering the rules and regulations will not change much. Hence I’m not sure what they are gaining by paying off Ricciardo and hiring Piastri. Ok, so if they don’t sign Piastri now, he would have been contracted to Alpine or Williams, but Mclaren could have easily hired someone like Gasly for 2024. Or, they could have even looked at their own pool of drivers.

Historically, Mclaren have had such instances many times in the past. I recall two such cases, first they signed on Perez, saying he is a fantastic driver and then dumped him just in a year. And in that year Perez hadn’t done so badly at all. They ditched Perez in favour of Magnussen, who they called out as the talent to watch out for and then they dumped him too! Post Magnussen’s exit, they had Button and Alonso drive for them and later signed Stoffel Vandoorne, who was also sort of asked to leave within 2 or 3 seasons.

Not saying that Mclaren has to put up with average drivers, and I agree that someone like Vandoorne did not really perform very well against Alonso. But if you see Perez and Magnussen now, you really wonder if Mclaren got them in too early and then axed them in a hurry as well.

Purely based on performance, Ricciardo being asked to leave maybe just fine, but Mclaren breaking the bank to get him out and then going Piastri for 2023 when they are really not going to be in the top 3 is what baffles me. They anyway have Norris secured, so it’s not like they don’t have a young talented driver in their roster.

As far as Piastri is concerned, well he is managed by Mark Webber, so I think the move was pre-planned. Alpine wanted to retain Alonso for another year and then place Piastri at Williams. Piastri was well aware of this and my guess is that he did not want to go to Williams and rather wanted to drive for a top team. So he would have assumed that Alonso is going to stay back and hence made the Mclaren move. Understandable, from his perspective.

[arj2695]

It's Official, Danial Ricciardo to leave McLaren at the end of the season. Really sad that he was not able to make this happen. But I hope he find a team where he could shine again.

Official News

[ninjatalli]

So there's potentially a scenario that Piastri might not be able to make the shift to Mclaren.

Ref: 1

A virtual meeting of the F1 Contract Recognition Board on Monday is set to decide the Formula 1 future of Oscar Piastri. The Alpine and McLaren teams both have a claim on the Australian's services for 2023. They are obliged by the Concorde Agreement to abide by the decision of the CRB, and not pursue further legal action in attempt to get that ruling changed.

Two of the most famous CRB cases saw a driver’s original team win, and the outfit hoping to poach him lose. That happened when David Coulthard tried to leave Williams for McLaren in 1995, and when Jenson Button wanted to move from BAR to Williams a decade later.

Should Alpine win the CRB case it doesn’t necessarily mean that Piastri will actually race for the Enstone team in 2023. They could name the price and sell him to McLaren. However, Alpine could in theory also entertain interest from other teams that might want to hire Piastri, or trade him with someone who has a contract elsewhere, such as Pierre Gasly.

[arj2695]

It is finally settled then, Oscar to drive for McLaren from 2023.

Oscar Piastri will race for McLaren alongside Lando Norris for the 2023 season on a multi-year deal, following a decision of the Contract Recognition Board (CRB), which ruled that the Australian had a valid contract with the team for next year.

The ruling added that: “Mr Piastri is entitled to drive for McLaren Racing Limited for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.”

“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,” said Piastri in a statement. “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.”

And the deal was done on July 4th, just after the British GP. I feel for Alpine, though they are the one to blame for this blunder.

NEWS

[Scarlet_Rider]

FIA confirm all 10 F1 teams operated below Cost Cap in 2022. Just curious as to why it takes so many months to complete the review for the previous season?

Sources:
https://www.fia.com/news/fia-complet...al-regulations
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...TMBLH4LxS.html