2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

I get that, what I’m wondering is why Audi is considered a viable option for Lando. Is it because Seidl is there? There’s absolutely no guarantee they’ll be competitive from the get go. BMW also took over from Sauber, they didn’t set the world alight.

Same decision Hamilton faced with Merc who started by taking some of Mclarens best staff.

Lewis took a gamble with Mercedes, it paid off. It might not have, which is F1 in a nutshell. You simply never know
which teams are going to produce the cars that can win titles and the teams that are chasing that but never quite getting there.

If Lando goes to Audi, it would be the same kind of gamble Lewis took with Mercedes. But it's quite possible McLaren will do enough to convince Lando to sign a new deal with the team. A lot can happen between now and the next set of regulations coming in for 2026.

Yes it's possible Mclaren can do enough, it's possible Audi can spin his head. Or Mercedes, as Lewis Hamilton might well be in his last 2 years. Who knows, but there's a ton of options for him if he keeps his game up.

Mclaren just need to get their act together. Producing a decent car will no longer be good enough, nothing less than challenging will do in the very near future.

[ringo]

No. Dont get it twisted. Regardless of the different options and permutations before, in the end Piastri still had an opportunity to drive for Alpine in 2023. He was offered that by Otmar.

This is just not correct. That seat was offered by Otmar to Fernando Alonso, at the time that a McLaren seat was offered to Piastri. The Alpine seat was NOT offered to Piastri until Piastri already had a deal with McLaren!

We all know this. He refused.

How can Oscar Piastri refuse a race seat that is being offered to Fernando Alonso and not to Oscar?! The very notion doesn't even make sense. In fact, if Oscar was actually offered the Alpine seat in the first place, and not Fernando Alonso, be that in March, April, or May 2022 then Oscar would have almost certainly taken it.

Instead, Alpine offered a race seat to Fernando Alonso, so Piastri took up a race seat offer from McLaren F1 Team. Which is entirely logical.

When a seat opened up at Alpine, Piastri had already signed with McLaren. He could not take that seat.

Indeed, it seems illogical in the extreme for Alpine to claim Oscar Piastri is their number one choice, when their race seat was being offered to Fernando Alonso and not to Oscar Piastri.

You are beating around the bush and creating diversions, but proving my point. Had Piastri not signed for Mclaren, and kept his word to Alpine he could have had a seat when Vettel and Alonso did their moves. All he had to do was wait.
He was not Alpine #1 choice. But so what?
Had he waited in the wings, he would be an Alpine driver for 2023. Now he risks a very short and dificult career.
Alpine beat Mclaren in 22 with very poor reliability, and with their improved engine and 2 steady and experienced drivers, they are likely to stay ahead of Mclaren.

[AR3-GP]

No. Dont get it twisted. Regardless of the different options and permutations before, in the end Piastri still had an opportunity to drive for Alpine in 2023. He was offered that by Otmar.

This is just not correct. That seat was offered by Otmar to Fernando Alonso, at the time that a McLaren seat was offered to Piastri. The Alpine seat was NOT offered to Piastri until Piastri already had a deal with McLaren!

We all know this. He refused.

How can Oscar Piastri refuse a race seat that is being offered to Fernando Alonso and not to Oscar?! The very notion doesn't even make sense. In fact, if Oscar was actually offered the Alpine seat in the first place, and not Fernando Alonso, be that in March, April, or May 2022 then Oscar would have almost certainly taken it.

Instead, Alpine offered a race seat to Fernando Alonso, so Piastri took up a race seat offer from McLaren F1 Team. Which is entirely logical.

When a seat opened up at Alpine, Piastri had already signed with McLaren. He could not take that seat.

Indeed, it seems illogical in the extreme for Alpine to claim Oscar Piastri is their number one choice, when their race seat was being offered to Fernando Alonso and not to Oscar Piastri.

You are beating around the bush and creating diversions, but proving my point. Had Piastri not signed for Mclaren, and kept his word to Alpine he could have had a seat when Vettel and Alonso did their moves. All he had to do was wait.
He was not Alpine #1 choice. But so what?
Had he waited in the wings, he would be an Alpine driver for 2023. Now he risks a very short and dificult career.
Alpine beat Mclaren in 22 with very poor reliability, and with their improved engine and 2 steady and experienced drivers, they are likely to stay ahead of Mclaren.

You're ignoring the point that Piastri couldn't gamble on "waiting".

I don't think you see the long game. I'll be blunt and apologies to any hopes crushed. Mclaren is a stop gap team for talents like Norris and Piastri. They are two of the hottest young talents since Verstappen and if and when Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari come calling, they'll be gone in a heartbeat, should Mclaren continue to produce a bang average midfield cars. It benefits both of them to pair up to size each other up and I think both of them are very good drivers. Better than Ocon and Gasly.

It doesn't matter one bit that Alpine might be faster than Mclaren. Who cares if you are fighting over 7th-9th positions. Not Oscar. It's about establishing your worth against a measuring stick like Norris, and using this to launch you to a big 3 team.

[ringo]

So he joined a team that has Norris signed till 2025, who ironically is going to be waiting for a very long time.
Piastri has raced zero laps on F1. No top team will come calling for him within a year.
And if the arguement is that he should take any race seat so his talents can be displayed. Well it's not so wise to take the seat beside Norris.
It's a foregone conclusion anyhow, but i think it would have been better for him to take his time and develop in a less pressuring environment.
He can have a very short career if he is not living up to the hype. Norris also seems to be the most talented of the young guys in my opinion, and i suspect he is well prepared to snuff out Piastri. Both their careers depend on them beating the other guy.

[AR3-GP]

So he joined a team that has Norris signed till 2025, who ironically is going to be waiting for a very long time.
Piastri has raced zero laps on F1. No top team will come calling for him within a year.

It's not about being called "within a year".

Like you said, norris is contracted until 2025. Piastri will debut in 2023 and have 3 years to size up Norris and potentially best him if his talent allows. At that point, silly season will be in full swing come end of 2025 with the likes of Norris, Hamilton, Perez, Leclerc, Sainz all likely free agents.

[AR3-GP]

It's a foregone conclusion anyhow, but i think it would have been better for him to take his time and develop in a less pressuring environment.

Yes like Hamilton going against Alonso right? What a terrible decision he made!

If Piastri is the real deal, you don't have to worry about him. If he's not good enough, then none of this matters.

You seem to just be trying to find excuses to say Piastri did the wrong thing, when he didn't. If he's the talent people say he is, then this is the right move. If he's not, it never mattered. What does it matter being mediocre at Alpine vs Mclaren. Big 3 won't look at him either way if the talent isn't there. History shows that the drivers who are destined for multiple titles have it from day 1. They don't take 3 years in the shadows to "develop it". Verstappen had it. Hamilton had it. Alonso had it. Schumacher had it from the word go.

[chrisc90]

F1 is the goal for many racers in single seaters. You dont just stay in F2 when there is a perfectly good seat in a F1 car/team to 'develop further in a less pressured environment'. Thats like winning the lottery, then saying no to the money because you dont know what to do with it.

Norris had many good offers from Red Bull to join their team alongside Max. Im sure that was before he took his long McLaren deal out. If I was Norris I probably would have jumped ship and been in a much more successful and competitive team.

All these drivers are very very good talent. Your talking within 1-2 seconds difference between them all. The car has a much bigger bearing on the results than the driver talent in about 90% of cases IMHO

[organic]

I'd imagine the team will be doing a shakedown soon.. hopefully?

[mwillems]

I don't get this discussion. This Mclaren team know how to look after their drivers. Piastri is not expected to challenge Norris.

If he's good enough everything will be fine, we aren't Red Bull.

[JordanMugen]

You are beating around the bush and creating diversions, but proving my point. Had Piastri not signed for Mclaren, and kept his word to Alpine he could have had a seat when Vettel and Alonso did their moves. All he had to do was wait.

This is an Alpine team that already had Piastri wait and take a sabbatical for the entire 2022 racing season! No 2022 race drive, not at Alpine, not at Williams, not anywhere.

Not even a Free Practice 1 session!

Piastri has raced zero laps on F1.

Who is to blame for that? Alpine. Where the heck was Piastri's 2022 drive?!?!

To top that tardiness off, in addition to not confirming Piastri as their 2022 race driver (or on a placement as a 2022 Williams or HAAS race driver), Alpine did not confirm Piastri as their 2023 race driver in a timely manner either.

It can hardly be surprising that Piastri jumped at the chance to race all the laps of the 2023 Formula 1 season for McLaren F1 Team!

You seem to just be trying to find excuses to say Piastri did the wrong thing, when he didn't.

Indeed. It is 100% Alpine's fault. Alpine had every chance to replace Alonso and confirm Piastri as their 2023 race driver in March, April or May 2022.

Since Alpine preferred Alonso, then they released Piastri to go to McLaren by not contracting Piastri. That's totally fine and is well within Alpine's rights. Alpine claimed they had a contract which did not exist, and so were compelled to pay 500,000 EUR in costs to Piastri, McLaren and the contract recognition board.

He was not Alpine #1 choice. But so what?
Had he waited in the wings, he would be an Alpine driver for 2023. Now he risks a very short and dificult career.

Piastri will do just fine! If he beats Norris he will be in demand from the top teams, if he doesn't then he is not that good in the first place and the top teams would not want him anyway.

[Slahinki]

If Alpine had any sense they wouldn't have given Ocon his massive extension and given Piastri that seat, but they didn't and now he's with a team that might actually appreciate him.

[ringo]

Okay I wont argue with the points raised. Let's see when the season starts.
All I am saying is that this was a big risky move. Bravo to him if it was the right one and he truly can hold his own against Norris.
As for the team, I am not sure how well founded the grey cloud over the team is all of a sudden.
I dont know how fair it is for the media to perceive that narrative. Are they in trouble or not?

[Stig14]

I'd imagine the team will be doing a shakedown soon.. hopefully?

The team are shaking down the car on Tuesday at Bahrain. I'm excited to see the proper car on track.

[mclaren111]

Not Long to Go...

[organic]

I'd imagine the team will be doing a shakedown soon.. hopefully?

The team are shaking down the car on Tuesday at Bahrain. I'm excited to see the proper car on track.

Tuesday!!!