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The Alpine Formula 1 team have terminated the employment of a key legal figure who was closely involved in the loss of Oscar Piastri to McLaren for 2023. After Fernando Alonso jumped ship to Aston Martin for next season in August to replace Sebastian Vettel, the team hoped to replace him with junior and reserve driver Piastri. However, he publicly rejected this offer stating that he "would not be driving" for the Enstone-squad alongside Esteban Ocon. By this stage in early August, Piastri had already signed a deal to join McLaren having never put pen to paper on a potential race drive with Alpine after repeated failings in the contract process, with the Contract Recognition Board's ruling exclusively revealed by TheFOXposts.Com. Alpine have now responded by relieving director of legal affairs Benedicte Mercer of her responsibilities. Viewed by others: ...

Charles Leclerc and Robert Shwartzman topped the timesheets in the first half of running at the Abu Dhabi post-season test, whilst there were technical issues on Oscar Piastri's first outing in the McLaren MCL36. With all drivers running 2023 Pirelli tyres, the Monegasque driver set benchmark of 1:25.383, almost seven tenths of a second faster than his junior teammate, who was driving the second Ferrari earmarked for a 'rookie' driver. Fernando Alonso's first Aston Martin outing began positively, with the Spanish driver setting the third fastest time, ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez, who was the busiest driver of the session, clocking over 80 laps. Both drivers finished just under one second off the pace. Pierre Gasly is currently fifth-fastest in his first session for Alpine, ahead of regular race drivers Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and Lando Norris (McLaren). Aston Martin junior Felipe Drugovich, Williams' Alex Albon and Red Bull rookie driver Li...

Zak Brown has labelled Otmar Szafnauer's comments about Oscar Piastri in the wake of a dispute over his services as "inaccurate and unfair". The row erupted when Alpine named Piastri – who had been serving as their reserve driver – as part of their 2023 line-up following Fernando Alonso's exit for Aston Martin, only for Piastri to later deny that he had signed for Alpine. Piastri had agreed a deal to race at McLaren as Daniel Ricciardo's replacement and the case was taken to the Contract Recognition Board, with the verdict going in McLaren's favour. It was then confirmed in September that Piastri would join Lando Norris at the Woking-based squad next season. Following the controversy, Alpine boss Szafnauer said that he had "expected more loyalty" from Piastri, and suggested that there had been a lack of "integrity", something that Brown takes issue with. ...

Oscar Piastri admits that he felt a " noticeable difference " after getting behind the wheel of a 2022 F1 car for the first time at the Abu Dhabi post-season test. The Australian – who will make his debut on the grid in 2023 with McLaren – joined his new team for testing at the Yas Marina Circuit, marking his debut drive in the current year's machinery. Piastri had previously tested for Alpine in their 2021-spec car during the season, and was also given one day's running in one of McLaren's year-old cars. After a year on the racing sidelines following his 2021 Formula 2 championship victory, Piastri shared his thoughts about the experience following his first outing in a 2022 car. Piastri on his testing experience When asked about the difference s between the 2021 and 2022 cars, Piastri told media, including TheFOXposts.Com : "I think there's defini...

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed the advice that he would offer Oscar Piastri – the driver to replace him at McLaren – ahead of the rookie's F1 debut. With Ricciardo having faced struggles since joining the team in 2021, it was announced in August that the Australian and McLaren had mutually agreed to terminate his multi-year contract early, meaning that he would exit the squad at the end of 2022. Shortly afterwards, the confirmation came that Piastri would join the Woking-based outfit as Lando Norris' teammate following a dispute over his services with Alpine. Ricciardo was left without a seat on the 2023 grid and instead opted to take a reserve driver role with Red Bull, the team with which he claimed seven of his eight wins in Formula 1 . While he won't have the opportunity to race against Piastri next season, Ricciardo has offered some words of advice for the youngster. ...

Even though McLaren has got its hands on a talented young rookie in Oscar Piastri for the 2023 Formula 1 season, the team is still losing the decade of experience from Daniel Ricciardo. He will rejoin his former team Red Bull as third driver, meaning the only 'yard stick' for car development at McLaren will be Lando Norris. Head of Race Operations, Andrea Stella, explains how Norris will be a key influence for Piastri as he looks to embed himself in the team early on. "I think the important point is to have continuity with Lando, he keeps the reference," said Stella to media, including TheFOXposts.Com . "It's a reference that we know very well, even because we have gone through the development of Lando together with him. "It will become a frame of reference for Oscar as well and this not only for his performance, but also understanding the car." Vie...

Alpine would look to prevent ' loopholes ', like the one found in Oscar Piastri 's Alpine agreement, from occurring again in future drive r contracts. After the announcement in July that Sebastian Vettel would be retiring at the end of the season, Fernando Alonso elected to transfer from Alpine and sign for Aston Martin to replace his fellow World Champion. This opened up a seat alongside Esteban Ocon, with Alpine planning to promote reserve driver Piastri to make his Grand Prix debut in 2023. However, as the team had not offered him a concrete race drive with them, the 2021 Formula 2 champion looked elsewhere and signed with McLaren, publicly rejecting Alpine's promotion on social media. Szafnauer: We should have done things differently As TheFOXposts.Com would later exclusively reveal in the Contract Recognition Board's ruling, failures on Alpine's side meant P...

Nyck De Vries has become the final Formula 1 driver to select his race number for the 2023 season, with the FIA releasing the official entry list. 2020/21 Formula E champion De Vries will make his full-time F1 debut with the AlphaTauri squad, replacing Pierre Gasly who departed for Alpine. During his stand-in appearance at Monza for Williams in 2022, De Vries ran number 45, although this is a number allocated to Williams and not De Vries himself. Instead, the Dutchman has opted for number 21, last used by Esteban Gutierrez in the 2016 season - and has been available for someone else to use since 2019. It means that the AlphaTauri drivers will run consecutive numbers for the second time, with Yuki Tsunoda using number 22. In 2014, Jean-Eric Vergne and Danill Kvyat ran 25 and 26, respectively. Elsewhere, fellow rookies Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant have also made their selections, while World Champion Max Verstappen will continue to carry the number 1. ...

As the old saying goes, all Formula 1 drivers want to win at Monaco and their home Grands Prix. Failing that, at least a podium would suffice in front of the adoring locals before the circus is packed up, moved on and onto the next race. While Australia has had a few wins in Monaco down the years, and further podiums, one thing the country has never seen is an Australian driver (officially) on the podium in either Adelaide or Melbourne. F1 first went Down Under in 1985, meaning triple World Champion Sir Jack Brabham never got a home World Championship Grand Prix. 1980 champion Alan Jones raced in the two first editions, retiring from both, with the second in 1986 being his final entry and the famous title decider when Nigel Mansell's tyre exploded. Sir Jack's son David failed to finish either of his two races in Adelaide in 1990 and 1994, while Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo could only muster a best finish of fourth between them. Oscar Piastri is now the res...

Ahead of his home Formula 1 race debut, Oscar Piastri revealed that his first appearance on the track came back in 2015, when he was a 'grid-kid' for one of the drivers. The McLaren driver, who is making just his third F1 appearance , shared that he had once appeared as an F1 'grid-kid', who acted as mascots to the drivers ahead of races. "The last time I raced in Australia, I was still in go-karts. I think it was seven years ago now. So it's nice to get out on a race track in Oz," Piastri recalled to media. "Yeah, I was here last year as a reserve driver, and I was here, I think, 2015. "I was a grid-kid, actually for Dany Kvyat, so I was holding Dany Kvyat’s flag, and he broke down on the lap-to-grid, so I never actually got to see him! "But yeah, it’s pretty special to have someone holding my flag this time but hopefully I have better luck." Viewed by others: ...

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella says the Woking outfit are not getting carried away with their performance in the Australian Grand Prix, in which both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri scored points. McLaren had come into the Melbourne weekend as one of only two teams not to have scored Championship points over the first two races of 2023. But last Sunday's eventful race saw only 12 cars take the chequered flag, with Norris finishing sixth and Piastri taking his first F1 points finish in eighth place, resulting in McLaren vaulting up to fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 12 points. However, despite the optimism engendered by a better weekend, Stella said McLaren were keeping their feet on the ground, adding that the race's attritional nature had played into Norris and Piastri's hands. "We [aren't getting] carried away, we know that it was a very eventful race, but it's good to score points," Stella told media, including TheFO...

Ex- F1 driver Mark Webber says the eventful Australian Grand Prix weekend will be an invaluable experience for Oscar Piastri to learn from. Rookie Piastri survived late chaos at Albert Park to finish eighth and score his first F1 Championship points, and fellow Australian Webber, who now serves as Piastri's manager, said his compatriot will have left Melbourne with a greater level of understanding and awareness. "It's nice to see someone go through such a phenomenal experience," Webber told the F1 Nation podcast. "Every day is new for him, he's getting gradually better, which you do with experience, as any of us that have performed at an elite level [know], it's just experience that you can't buy, like all the restarts, and then the qualifying and then mixed conditions in practice at a new circuit. "[Piastri has left Melbourne] with a truckload more experience for next year, which is great. So the rollercoaster is real. You want...

Mark Webber has praised Oscar Piastri for his " extraordinary " emotional regulation as a racing driver. The McLaren driver scored his first points in F1 on home turf at the Australian Grand Prix, in an eventful race that featured three red flags and numerous incidents. Webber – who acts as Piastri's manager – feels that the event was beneficial for the 22-year-old as he looks to gain experience in the sport. "It's nice to see someone go through such a phenomenal experience," Webber said of his role as Piastri's manager on the F1 Nation podcast. "Every day is new for him, every day he's getting gradually better. As any of us guys that have performed at an elite level [know], it's just experience that you can't buy. "Like [at the Australian Grand Prix], all these restarts, and then the qualifying, mixed conditions in practice and stuff at a new circuit he hasn't been [to]. "There's all these things...

McLaren boss Andrea Stella is confident that the team have prepared for the "risk" posed by the upcoming Sprint race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Sprint will make its first of six appearances during the weekend in Baku, which will also see the introduction of a Sprint Shootout in place of Free Practice 2. This will determine the starting order for the Sprint, while Friday's qualifying will set the grid for Sunday's main race. While McLaren have had mixed fortunes in the opening races of the 2023 season, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri scored points last time out in Australia, and Stella feels that the squad are in a positive frame of the mind for the Azerbaijan event. McLaren prepared for 'risk' in Baku "We come to Baku following a solid result in Australia, a short period away from track to refocus and with good spirits in the team so we're ready to go again for the first double-header of the season," Ste...