Ground Effect wrote: ↑27 Aug 2022, 12:34
Big Tea wrote: ↑27 Aug 2022, 11:11
ringo wrote: ↑27 Aug 2022, 08:06
Now that this saga has aged, do people still despise Alpine for their position that Piastri has no loyalty?
The only thing that rankles me slightly is the way he posted 'I will not be' to all rather than a quick text/ message to Alpine saying 'look guys, I am not'. It did make them look bad. Not what he did, but the way he presented it.
I guess it was done as what could be a legal defence, a public refusal of the Alpine drive. Let’s also not forget, Alpine posted that without his consent, which shouldn’t be the case.
Well Otmar's words from F1 website today:
"Very. I have seen both sides of the argument and we are confident that Oscar signed with us back in November and there are certain things that need to be in the contract and I’m confident they’re in there,” said Szafnauer.
“I rarely like to talk about details of driver contracts but two things I can say: one, there was no ‘by the 31st of July you have to do some things or therefore you can get on’ – there’s none of that. That 31st of July deadline that I read all the time is fictitious, it’s not in the contract that he signed.
“And the term of the contract, it is through 2024 with an option at the end of ’23. So I’ll just say those things, but there’s a lot more in there. Like I said, I don’t really like to talk about specifics,” explained the Alpine boss.
“I told Oscar before the announcement was made, he happened to be in the simulator so I went and found him, he smiled and was thankful, so we made the release very quickly.
“Things happen very quickly… and we too reacted quickly and didn’t want to go back and forth with his management, which is why we put the release out.”
Asked when he found out that Piastri would be disputing Alpine’s press release, Szafnauer replied: “So, we heard through social media.”
Now... I maintain that the team has professionals in it and they must have dotted all their i's and crossed their t's before they made an announcement and they did. And Oscar the snake sat there in the similator and smiled.
So I really do wonder if some fans just want to support the underdog or just automatically go against the team because Alonso left it so they must be a bad team.
Alpine is the loyal one here. Spending millions on this kid and securing his career through to 2024. Many out there would have liked this opportunity. I feel Webber has miaguided this young man and he is doing a poor job of management. He is probably using his poor experiences of the past to make some of these very bitter moves for the young driver.