F1 2022 Season - "Big Wheels"

[Crazed_Insanity]

I understand that. However, can we really say that Renault Driver Academy is totally unrelated to Alpine Renault?

Also, not faulting Piastri for looking else where, but do you think Renault Driver Academy like it when one of its drivers made Alpine Renault look bad? Renault contracts folks are definitely incompetent that's for sure.

Just saying Piastri could've played this better. Plus, like I said, I'm not sure McLaren is really all that much better than Alpine at this stage. Either team could've been a good platform to show case his talents in the next couple of years. He should've let the teams fight for him, rather than get himself involved in this ugly battle in courts. It'd be much better without that bridge burning tweet I think.

[FaultyMario]

- Hey girl, you're so pretty... wanna hang out?
- I don't know.

- Hey girl, you're still pretty... how about we grab a bite?
- Gee... that sounds like fun, but I still don't know.

- Hey handsome, she you girlfriend?
- Who? Her? I barely know her!

[dodint]

It always bugs me when huge events like F1 or professional golf rely on an army of volunteers to make the event run. The British Open has something like 2,000 volunteers. Meanwhile, guys like Bernie would walk out of a GP venue with their pants stuffed with thousand-dollar bills.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Not 100% sure if this is true, but I heard both Alpine and McLaren contracts are valid per CRB.

I'm not a lawyer, but how can we have 2 conflicting yet valid contracts? How does that work? There must be a contract that's signed later? So the contract that was sign later should be invalid, right?

This is weird.

I hope Piastri is really that good to be worth all this trouble.

[FaultyMario]

One contract is for working in F1 (McLaren), the other is not (Renault Driver Academy).

I suppose he can still drive any car that RDA will present to him, and I would venture and guess that RDA is still free to share any information they gather with Piastri with any other third party they're associated with, in this case, Alpine BWT F1 Team.

Why would they do that with a driver who is under contract to a rival team is the reason why they won't.

[FaultyMario]

This is pure speculation on my part:

I think the companies that sign youngsters in order to create a ladder to an F1 team are formed as entities with a small budget and independent from the main outfit for liability reasons. They probably operate on a shoestring budget out of a two-person office. Their object is to "catch and release" talent, either they release it to their big brother or back to the water, but they must be designed to not take on too much risk, either of insurance or of contractual nature. You want to be able dissociate quickly from the Ferruccis and the Mazepins of the racing world, and, sadly, in case of the worst, you don't want to get into a long legal battle, like Marussia with the De Villotas.

[Rare White Ape]

You wouldn’t be too far off on the general scope there.

Something that set the Twittersphere alight a fortnight ago was that Colton Herta tested a 2021 McLaren F1 car at Portimao, leading everyone to think that HE was taking the seat next year.

It was merely a part of his driver development program. It is therefore reasonable to say that whoever he is contracted to has a package of activities scheduled out for him to participate in, in return for a cut of his driving fee from the Andretti IndyCar team.

I’d say that Piastri’s deal with Renault was the same: you do this, do that, be the reserve driver, Alpine pays us and we pay you, plus they can take up your contract by *this* date if they want to. Basically working on secondment to Alpine for this whole time.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I can sort of understand Fernando’s move because if you don’t trust your team anymore, you’ll likely won’t win any championships with them. Likewise if the team only wish to sign year by year with you, naturally you’d prefer a multi year deal, especially if you’re old… Alonso is just trying to find the best deal to milk the most out of the twilight of his career.

Piastri really has a lot going for him. It surely won’t matter which team he ends up showcasing his talent in. Should’ve just let McLaren fight for him rather than appear ungrateful/unloyal to Renault like this.

Anyway, these young driver programs appear to be working? I really don’t like how RB and McLaren been catching and tossing so many young drivers along the way, but they did catch Vettel/Max and Hamilton/Lando… Leclerc was also from Ferrari program, right? Renault young driver program seems to be the lamest of them all programs. Wonder if Piastri will be the exception…

[JoeW]

Not really happy that the new engine regs are staying close to the current formula. Some tweaks but the writing is on the wall as they move toward using more electrical power...Formula E and F1 will likely merge at some point way down the road.

I guess the new players coming in wanted to make sure the new regs were in line with their future philosophies.

[FaultyMario]

Seems to me that the 2026 engine regs are more about financials. it's basically "same as now, but cheaper", to my eyes.