F1: McLaren not surprised about Piastri saga outcome

(GMM) Andreas Seidl says he isn’t surprised that the FIA’s contract recognition board (CEB) sided with McLaren over the Oscar Piastri affair.

After a week’s delay, the CRB declared late on Friday that Australian Piastri’s “only” valid contract is the one he signed in July with the Woking based team.

McLaren promptly confirmed the 21-year-old’s multi-year deal, while Alpine – reportedly ordered to pay hundreds of thousands in legal fees – acknowledged the decision.

“We consider the matter closed on our side and will announce our full 2023 driver lineup in due course,” said the Renault-owned team.

Seidl isn’t sure why Alpine even pursued the case, after Piastri turned down the team’s announcement that he would be Esteban Ocon’s teammate in 2023.

“To be honest, there was never a case in our opinion,” the McLaren boss said.

“It’s best to ask the other party why they thought they had a case, but it wasn’t a big deal to us.”

Seidl also rejected Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer’s claim that the saga puts a cloud of questionable integrity over Piastri’s forthcoming F1 debut.

“I don’t think it’s up to us to say anything about that,” he said.

“For us it was pretty easy – to get a driver to compete in Formula 1, you need two things: a contract and registration with the CRB. We did that in July, so our plan was clear from the start.”

But Formula 3 driver Juan Manuel Correa, who says he knows Piastri well, also sided with the reigning F2 champion and McLaren over the saga.

“From my point of view, I think it is actually Alpine’s fault. They played a little with Oscar and Fernando (Alonso),” he said.

“With Oscar, they didn’t give him what they promised and I think any driver in his position would have done what he did. It was a shame that he didn’t get a seat already this year.”

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Oscar Piastri has explained that he told Alpine multiple times that he was preparing to leave the team for 2023.

The Australian explained to formula1.com the difficult situation he found himself in when Szafnauer falsely announced he would drive for Alpine in front of team members.

“My decision was made well in advance [of Alonso’s move to Aston Martin], which made Alpine’s announcement probably even more confusing and upsetting because we had told the team that I wasn’t going to continue.

“It was quite upsetting as the announcement was false, and it also denied me the opportunity to properly say goodbye to everyone at Enstone.

“I had been with the team for a bit over two and a half years, and for the rest of the team to find out I was leaving in that manner was very upsetting. 

“I still haven’t had the opportunity to say goodbye, and it’s something I want to do to show my gratitude to all the men and women at Enstone.”

Oscar Piastri explained that Otmar Szafnauer told him about his “promotion” to Alpine whilst he was in the simulator, which he found upsetting. 

“That was a bizarre and frankly upsetting episode. It was done publicly in front of some members of the team who were oblivious to the situation, and I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of them. 

“Once we were in private, I told Otmar what our position was and what we had told him multiple times before that. It was very surprising to me to make that announcement.”