F1: Piastri will be able to drive for McLaren at Abu Dhabi test

The Alpine F1 team has agreed to end its contract with Oscar Piastri a bit early, so he can test with his new team, McLaren, at the post-season Abu Dhabi test.

A final agreement with Alpine to formally release Piastri before the end of the calendar year has now been reached and he is set to make his first public appearance with McLaren in the current MCL36 at the young driver test on the Tuesday after the Abu Dhabi GP.

McLaren has a previous commitment to run O’Ward in that session, having given Palou an outing in Austin.

At Saturday morning’s Team Representatives Press Conference in Sao Paulo, Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer and McLaren Team Boss Andreas Seidl confirmed that a deal had been reached, and that Piastri was free to take part in the Abu Dhabi test.

Q: Andreas, can we start by talking drivers with you, specifically, Oscar Piastri . There are some reports last week that he tested your 2021 car at Paul Ricard. Was that the case?

Andreas SEIDL: Yeah, I can confirm that. In the end, we reached a settlement agreement with all parties involved, which enabled us to put Oscar in an old car last week in Paul Ricard and do a private test, which will enable us as well to then officially start working with Oscar on Monday after the last race in Abu Dhabi, which enables us then as well to put him in the current car at the young driver test in Abu Dhabi, which is something we are very much looking forward to. And yeah, which is great for us and for Oscar.

Q: Otmar, an agreement has been reached with McLaren with regards Oscar.  Can we just get your thoughts on that?

Otmar SZAFNAUER: Yeah,  the seasons nearly at the end and it was time to come to an agreement, and we did and we’re happy that Oscar can start his McLaren career after the last race in Abu Dhabi and do the test, and we will be doing the same with Pierre; we will be putting Pierre in the car in Abu Dhabi, and we’ll get working on our driver pairing, driver lineup, get his feedback and get his initial thoughts on our car this year and start to understand the things he likes and dislikes and hopefully be able to make some changes on next year’s car with Pierre’s input in mind.