While Max Verstappen is also unstoppable at the home game in Zandvoort, Team Alpine experienced an unpleasant weekend, although both drivers classified in the points. The Piastri case is costing the French dearly.
Fernando Alonso is still driving for Alpine – but he will also be leaving the team.
Max Verstappen’s fourth triumph in a row is a special one. The Dutchman celebrated the perfect Formula 1 home win from pole position in Zandvoort in front of a record crowd of 105,000 spectators. In the end, the choice of tires decided the 15th World Championship race in favor of the Red Bull driver.
For a long time it looked as if Lewis Hamilton would win his first win of the year in the hitherto moody Mercedes. However, a safety car phase and a risky strategy cost the Brits their success, which would have been a small revenge for last year’s final that they lost. So Hamilton was only fourth. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc wasn’t really happy about his third place either. After Verstappen’s tenth win of the season, Monegasse is 109 points behind in the title fight.
The biggest topic of conversation over the weekend was the Alpine team – involuntarily, and not in a positive way. Although the racing team scored both cars in the points, there was some unpleasant news off the track.
After the fuss about Piastri: Alpine, all that remains is mockery and legal bills of a good 600,000 francs
The saga about the Australian talent of the century Oscar Piastri should have come to an end with the verdict of a Geneva arbitration court on Friday. The judges, who enjoyed insights into all contracts of Formula 1 drivers in the case of the dispute, decided unanimously: Piastri has a valid contract for 2023 with McLaren.
The Alpine team apparently only had a letter of intent from November 2021 and an agreement with Piastri as reserve driver. The later offered four-year contract, which would have initially sent Piastri to the Williams backbencher team, never came about. The driver therefore saw his career opportunities with his current employer dwindling and took the option with competitor McLaren.
Oscar Piastri scored a win in court – and will break away from McLaren.
Nevertheless, after Fernando Alonso’s departure, Team Alpine announced Piastri’s commitment – which he immediately and publicly denied. In retrospect, the 21-year-old speaks of a “bizarre and disturbing episode”. The argument had been smoldering for weeks, and the atmosphere was poisoned. McLaren had terminated the cooperation with its regular driver Daniel Ricciardo at the end of the year in the secure feeling of a valid contract with Piastri. The paddock was divided. Alpine accused its renegade young driver, in whose training it had invested millions, of a lack of integrity and disloyalty.
Losing super talent and super star in one go is bitter
Now only the mockery and legal bills of a good 600,000 francs remain for Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer. That doesn’t reflect well on the French factory racing team, which had its last triumphs with Fernando Alonso. With that Alonso, who had let his employer down at the beginning of the summer break and hired at Aston Martin for more money. The Spaniard had also taken Szafnauer by surprise. Losing super talent and super star in one go is bitter. The only thing that speaks for the manager in this mess: the fundamental negotiations had started before he was even on the team.
Otmar Szafnauer is under pressure as Alpine’s team manager. The posse surrounding the talent Oscar Piastri has added to his status in the racing team.
It is quite possible that the American will still be made a scapegoat. And the embarrassment will get stuck at the parent company Renault. In Paris, you have to ask yourself why, despite billions in investments and the opportunity provided by the new technical regulations, everything has remained the same: the engine is still only the fourth force in the racing circuit, the team is stuck in the middle – despite the promise within five years bring the title back to France.
About a third of this period has passed without success. In view of these ambitions, Szafnauer and his racing team do not make a good impression. The 58-year-old says bravely: “I think Alpine’s image is based on what happens on the track and how we perform. That’s what we’re focusing on.”
The dream of a French national team – but Ocon and Gasly don’t get along very well
After all, the job that has become vacant at Alpine, which was confirmed by Piastris, is in great demand. Daniel Ricciardo could target a return, Mick Schumacher also sees a perspective there. Apparently, however, an attempt is being made to free Pierre Gasly, who is employed at Alpha Tauri, in order to be able to form a French national team. That was a tradition in better Renault times in the 1980s with Alain Prost and René Arnoux. However, current Alpine rider Esteban Ocon is not considered a friend of Gasly.
Pierre Gasly
And the next personal controversy is already threatening today: Team boss Szafnauer has to deal with the Piastri case again. According to the contract, the Australian drives the Formula 1 races in the simulator at the Renault racing factory in order to provide the strategists with data. However, according to the latest verdict, further cooperation is questionable, even if everything seems possible in the crazy 2022 transfer world cup. For Alpine, it’s about saving its reputation.
Zandvoort (NED). Dutch Grand Prix (72 laps of 4.259 km/306.648 km): 1. Max Verstappen (NED), Red Bull-Honda, 1:36:42.773 (190.204 km/h). 2. George Russell (GBR), Mercedes, 4.071s back. 3. Charles Leclerc (MON), Ferrari, 10.929. 4. Lewis Hamilton (GBR), Mercedes, 13.016. 5. Sergio Perez (MEX), Red Bull-Honda, 18.168. 6. Fernando Alonso (ESP), Alpine-Renault, 18.754. 7. Lando Norris (GBR), McLaren-Mercedes, 19.306. 8. Carlos Sainz (ESP), Ferrari, 20.916. 9. Esteban Ocon (FRA), Alpine-Renault, 21.117. 10. Lance Stroll (CAN), Aston Martin-Mercedes, 22.459. 11. Pierre Gasly (FRA), Alpha Tauri-Honda, 27.009. 12. Alexander Albon (THA), Williams-Mercedes, 30,390. 13 Mick Schumacher (GER), Haas-Ferrari, 32.995. 14. Sebastian Vettel (GER), Aston Martin-Mercedes, 36.007. Also: 16th Zhou Guanyu (CHN), Alfa Romeo-Ferrari, 37.320. 17. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), McLaren-Mercedes, 37.764.
failures: Yuki Tsunoda (JPN), Alpha Tauri-Honda (47th lap/20th place): Differential. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo-Ferrari (55th/13th): Engine.
World Championship status (15/22 plus sprints in Imola and Spielberg). Driver: 1. Verstappen 310 (5). 2. Leclerc 201 (3). 3. Perez 201 (2). 4. Russell 188. 5. Sainz 175 (2). 6. Hamilton 158 (2). 7. Norris 82 (1). 8 Ocon 66 9 Alonso 59 10 Bottas 46 11 Magnussen 22 12 Vettel 20 13 Ricciardo 19 14 Gasly 18 15 Schumacher 12 16 Tsunoda 11 17 Zhou 5 18. Stroll 5. 19. Albon 4.