Formula 1 news: Oscar Piastri officially signs with McLaren, Ricciardo now on the outer

Oscar Piastri may have secured his debut F1 deal but the news has been overshadowed by a tiny yet damning detail that exposes just how badly Daniel Ricciardo has been treated,

Oscar Piastri.

The worst kept secret in F1 is finally official with Australia’s Oscar Piastri set to leave Alpine and drive for McLaren next season after lawyers ruled the rookie’s contract with the British team was legitimate.

The 21-year-old has been with Alpine for four years and is their test and reserve driver. At the start of August, the French team announced that Piastri would replace the departing Fernando Alonso next season. However, only hours later, the 21-year-old posted a message to say he would not be racing for them.

It then emerged that Piastri had already signed a contract with McLaren to replace his underperforming compatriot Daniel Ricciardo.

With both teams insisting that they had a valid contract with the driver, the dispute was sent to the Contract Recognition Board (CRB), a panel of four independent lawyers, who found in McLaren’s favour only minutes before the cars took to the track for the second practice session of the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort yesterday (Friday).

Watch Every Practice, Qualifying & Race of the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship™ Live on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

Oscar Piastri of Australia will cut ties with Alpine F1 to join McLaren. Picture: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Piastri is a highly rated driver and became only the third, after Charles Leclerc and George Russell, to win successive Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships, but has had to sit out racing this year as he was unable to get a full-time drive.

“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,” Piastri said. “The team has a long tradition of giving young talent a chance and I’m looking forward to working hard alongside Lando [Norris] 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 [McLaren’s colour].”

Piastri will partner Lando Norris in the McLaren colours next season.

As a rookie he is only expected to earn in the region of $750,000 for his first year, a fee which pales in significance to Norris’s rumoured $32 million salary.

It's official! 😁#F1#[e-mail]/CFY3Z1ddrQ

— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) September 2, 2022

SLAP IN RICCIARDO’S FACE

Within the CRB’s ruling, they noted that the contract between McLaren and Piastri had been signed on July 4.

That date was the Monday after the British Grand Prix and confirmed that McLaren had been considering replacing Ricciardo for some time before he was actually released. Ricciardo finished second last at Silverstone but confirmation of his early departure, a year before his contract was up, was not confirmed for another seven weeks as the two sides negotiated a payout for the 33-year-old.

The early July date will sting given it was just 9 days before Ricciardo made a public statement of commitment to McLaren, despite their ongoing struggles for form.

“There have been a lot of rumours around my future in Formula One, but I want you to hear it from me,” Ricciardo told his fans on July 13.

“I am committed to McLaren until the end of next year and am not walking away from the sport.

Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and McLaren talks to the media in the Paddock

“Appreciate it hasn’t always been easy, but who wants easy! I’m working my ass off with the team to make improvements and get the car right and back to the front where it belongs.”

Little did he know at the time, his departure was already confirmed.

When presented with the timeline at a media opportunity in Holland, a dejected looking Ricciardo said he had not been kept in the loop, despite McLaren claims to the contrary.

“To be honest on the dates, that’s the first I’ve heard. I’m not aware of obviously timelines and what the team is discussing,” he told Sky Sports on Friday evening.

“I’m aware that there were going to be talks ongoing so in terms of timelines, what the team does preparing Oscar, that’s not my business in terms of what day they spoke or this or that.”

Team principal Andreas Seidl meanwhile said: “Obviously, we don’t go into the details of the contract that we signed with Oscar.

“Regarding Daniel, as we have communicated last week, I think throughout this year Daniel, Zak and myself had an open and transparent dialogue at any time of where we both are. Therefore, there is no issue in that aspect.”

Ricciardo is yet to announce where he will race next season and has not ruled out taking a sabbatical if he cannot find a competitive seat.

He walks away from McLaren with a $14.5 million payout.

So it's now clear that when Daniel Ricciardo put out this heartfelt social media post about committing to McLaren... McLaren had already signed the deal with Piastri 😬 Ouch. pic.twitter.com/w9syP3gAaD

— Tom Bellingham (@TommyWTF1) September 2, 2022

McLaren CEO Zak Brown and Seidl were due to front media at 10:45pm AEST on Friday, between practice one and two and the Dutch Grand Prix, however the press conference was cancelled at the last minute.

Little more than an hour later, McLaren released a statement confirming Piastri’s signing.

“The entire team is delighted to welcome Oscar to McLaren for the 2023 F1 season,” Seidl said.

“He has an impressive racing career to date, and we are sure that together with Lando, he will be able to help us move another step forward towards our ambitions.

“We still have an important job to do this season which the team remains focused on, before we will then ensure Oscar is integrated into the team as quickly as possible and ready for the challenges ahead. We look forward to preparing for an exciting 2023 season together.”

The timeline that shames McLarenhttps://t.co/6KJ3vKp992pic.twitter.com/NiZyAHFoAZ

— Emily Benammar (@EmilyBenammar) September 2, 2022

WHAT IT ALL MEANS

There had been doubts about the legitimacy of Piastri’s move to McLaren given his ties to Alpine, but it seems July 31 was another crucial date in the rookie’s contractual obligations to the French outfit.

Had Alpine presented a 2023 seat to Piastri before this date he would have been obliged to accept, but it seems the team was adamant Fernando Alonso would stick with them for another year.

The scenario left Piastri with two options; another year on the sidelines or go on loan to Williams - neither of which are believed to have been good enough for Webber.

Conspiracy theorists had suggested that Fernando Alonso and his manager Flavio Briatore (formerly Webber’s representative) had been integral to the deal with McLaren being done.

Alonso announced his defection to Aston Martin on August 1 throwing any plans Alpine had for Piastri into disarray given the July deadline.

His decision to leave prompted Alpine to announce Piastri as Esteban Ocon’s partner for 2023 but the claim was immediately rejected by the 21-year-old in a very public social media post.

However Alonso dismissed the rumours at the Belgium Grand Prix saying it had been “quite said and annoying to read that conspiracy.”

“I made this decision, because for some months that I’d been chatting with the team about extending the contract, and nothing officially arrived, and nothing officially happened,” Alonso explained.

“Aston called me after Sebastian [Vettel] retired. If Sebastian continued, this probably would not happen, the move to Aston. So they were very clear and very easy decisions from my side.

Daniel Ricciardo may struggle to find a competitive car in 2023. Picture: Dan Mullan/Getty Images

“What happened after and what is happening with Oscar, as I said, is completely not my thing. I will be completely aside.”

Meanwhile, Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly is the odds-on favourite to drive alongside Esteban Ocon at Alpine in 2023.

The move is significant for a number of reasons.

Firstly it eliminates the best option Ricciardo had of driving a relatively competitive car in 2023 amid speculation the West Australian may take a break from the sport entirely after saying he would only stay for a seat where he felt he could challenge on the grid.

Secondly, it would mean Alpine partnering two drivers who have made no secret of the fact they are not friends.

Originally published as Formula 1 news: Oscar Piastri officially signs with McLaren, Ricciardo now on the outer