Every August is the designated summer break in the F1 season. This time of the year is also when drivers switch to a different team, saying goodbye to their old cars. If that doesn't happen, there will be a new kid to come fill up a vacant car seat.
However, for the 2023 season, it has gone to a new level of humiliation, and some say betrayal.
Main Stand invites you to the story of the F1 driver transfer market, which brought so much drama that it is no less than football players.
Silly season to take place
‘Silly season’ is slang used in many sports, meaning a point in time when so many rumors arise, especially about any athlete moving.
F1 is also another sport that stamped this term. At times rumors are wildly exaggerated, but sometimes the reality is just more unbelievable, and it is happening in the summer break of 2022.
The first of these dominos was pushed even before the last race of the first half of the season when Sebastian Vettel decided to open his Instagram account for the first time during the week of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
However, his first post was a bigger deal when he posted the videos of his retirement at the end of the 2022 season in German and English. He stated that his goals have shifted from racing and fighting for championships to seeing his children grow and spend as much time with his family.
One day after the end of the race in Hungaroring on 31 July, Aston Martin announced that two-time world champion Fernando Alonso would move from Alpine F1 to replace Vettel's seat next year.
The next day, to lose their experienced driver, Alpine announced that Oscar Piastri, the Australian F2 2021 champion, would be promoted to a seat in Formula One.
However, to be abased, just moments later, Piastri posted on his social media about his disagreement with this announcement.
The statement wrote: "I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 has released a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong; I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year."
Poisoning the old team
F1 is considered the biggest in motorsport globally, with only a handful who can qualify to race. Getting the driver's seat is tough, and people who are already in don't want to leave, while so many people outside want to be a part of it.
Especially in 2023, when Vettel's seat became vacant, the spot became even more attentive, although Aston Martin already had their eyes on a replacement.
If everything goes as planned, one of the seats will only be for Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll. Therefore, another quota for the team must be someone who can accelerate the rise of the team both in and out circuit, which has Alonso's name all over it.
Although the Oviedo driver is already 41 years old and added that he was gone from the grid for two years (2019-2020), the saying goes, the more senior the ginger, the spicier it gets.
Alonso has made magnificent results in the 2022 season. After 13 races, he earned nine consecutive points. His latest podium was in the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix.
The policies of Aston Martin are clear from the start after the rebranding from Racing Point. Stroll junior will always be the number one, and the other driver must be someone experienced who can enhance their brand's image.
While Vettel was deciding whether to keep racing, Aston Martin started discreetly discussing with Alonso. Therefore, when Vettel chose to quit, Aston Martin went on to close the deal with Alonso. It happened so fast that the head of Alpine F1, Otmar Szafnauer, was caught off guard.
Moreover, another reason that made Alonso switch the team is because of his contract. Alpine proposed a one plus optional one-year deal to Alonso, which didn't meet his demand that he believed he still very much got it and could still race for several years.
His departure to Aston Martin happened because his new team offered him a multi-year contract.
So when Alonso moved out, people might think it benefited Alpine, which wanted to push Piastri in the first place. However, for him, being the 2022 F2 world champion has become a double-edged sword because the rules say that the champion can't compete in the category after winning. Consequently, he had to wait for his chance in F1, something he had wanted for so long.
But in reality, this didn't pan out reasonably as expected. This is the alleged tactic that Alonso used to poison his team sneakily. Even though Alpine wants to push Piastri to the seat, it is still tricky when two current drivers technically have a contract with the team. Alpine's Esteban Ocon still has a deal with the team until 2024.
Although Alpine F1 plans to loan Piastri to another team (rumors are they are negotiating with Williams F1), replacing Thailand's Alex Albon or Canadian Nicholas Latifi would be satisfactory for the young champion.
Piastri's manager, former Australian racer Mark Webber used the terms of the contract between Alpine and Piastri and said that if Alpine cannot find a seat in F1 for Piastri before 31 July 2022, he will immediately have the freedom to negotiate with any team.
He is rumored to have negotiated with Mclaren, who wanted Piastri to replace Daniel Ricciardo, who, despite having a contract running till the end of 2023.
When the negotiation with Alonso and Aston Marting became concrete on 1 August 2022, it meant that Alonso successfully dropped a bomb on Alpine F1. But unfortunately, his second bomb also landed and affected an empty seat in Alpine, which also acted in the deal's expiration between them and Piastri.
So when Alpine announced that Piastri would drive for the team, many doubts followed because there was no statement from Piastri in the announcement. Eventually, Piastri dropped his bomb by saying that he would not be driving for them, which may mean that he had already successfully moved to another team.
While Alpine's factory is still on fire, motorsports fans might feel like the event in the world of F1 is similar to the event they just encountered a while back.
Reliving a racing deja vu
Although the popularity of F1 can't compete with the popularity of NASCAR and IndyCar in America, F1 and IndyCar are more similar than one might think.
Many former F1 drivers have moved to this competition and become show stars, which earned them a lot of money.
Not long ago, a similar incident discussed above happened in IndyCar. In July 2022, Chip Ganassi Racing announced they had the option to extend the contract with 2021 champion Alex Palou to stay with the team, and they exercised it.
After the announcement, Palou suddenly turned on them when he tweeted that Chip Ganassi Racing used this option without his agreement and tweaked his words that he had not said it himself and had already told the team that he would move from them at the end of the 2022 season.
His next move is just around the corner because Mclaren, also competing in IndyCar, announced that Palou would be driving for them starting in the 2023 season. The signing came with a bonus of him being able to test drive in Mclaren's F1 car, too, which many believed to be among the reasons why Palou made a move. At the age of 25, it is not too late for him to join F1, and Mclaren will be able to make his dream come true.
When a drama became a meme
The contract drama in IndyCar became a court case when Chip Ganassi Racing sued Palou.
But for a similar dispute in F1, it turned out to be a meme that was not only used exclusively in the inner circle anymore.
A man who started to use this drama as a meme was none other than Alex Albon. Albon also announced that Williams would sign him with a multi-year deal because of his ability to push the car that many say is the worst on the grid to its full potential.
"I understand that, with my agreement, Williams Racing has put out a press release this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is right, and I have signed a contract with Williams for 2023. (So) I will be driving for Williams next year," said Albon.
The result of this driver's seat dispute in F1 will surely come very soon. First, a report from CRB (FIA Contract Recognition Board) has examined Piastri's deals with Alpine and Mclaren.
They judged that Alpine's option for Piastri was not used in due time and effectively allowed the driver to negotiate with any team.
CRB's decision is absolute because every team had given them full power to verify and judge the driver's contracts
Henceforth, the only thing left for Mclaren to do is tear the contract with Ricciardo to give the seat to Piastri.
This dispute seemed to benefit every party involved except Alpine and Ricciardo.
Alonso got his pay and the contract duration he wanted, Aston Martin got the veteran and famous driver in their team, and Piastri got the F1 seat he deserves.
Alpine will need to find a new racer in time. The same goes for Ricciardo, who suddenly became unemployed and still can't quite see his next direction. So maybe he might end up with Alpine, which he had already raced within 2019-2022 in the name Renault or perhaps he will walk away from F1 forever.
Whatever said, all F1 fans can expect the driver market to have more drama and controversy in the future.
Sources:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-fernando-alonso-signs-to-aston-martin-for-2023-on-multi-year.1i8QwJht5v7dBCWFCcrqml.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.alpine-boss-szafnauer-says-aston-martin-press-release-was-first-confirmation.19b3hIOghVGw4RnxHxZFlm.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-alpine-announce-oscar-piastri-as-alonsos-replacement-for-2023.4nGdvu5y8tCpEK0CKwIW57.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.oscar-piastri-insists-i-will-not-be-driving-for-alpine-next-year-after-team.2IzNJp1wi79WZzmphZKSsB.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.analysis-whats-going-on-with-alpine-and-oscar-piastri-and-what-happens-next.2Kg5FtJcO0aii5TcoeU5hG.html
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/122649/piastri-deadline-for-alpine-may-have-been-on-31-july.html
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-end-ricciardo-deal-piastri-2023/10349014/
https://racingnews365.com/revealed-piastri-to-replace-ricciardo-at-mclaren-in-2023
https://car2day.com/alpine-piastri-alonso-aston-martin-f1/
https://wtf1.com/post/two-teams-are-claiming-to-have-a-contract-with-reigning-indycar-champ-for-2023/
https://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2022/07/27/indycar-chip-ganassi-racing-alex-palou-lawsuit/
