Alpine is reportedly set for a legal showdown with Oscar Piastri amid reports the Australian driver will join McLaren next season.
The 21-year-old was announced last week as Fernando Alonso’s replacement at Alpine only for Piastri to take to social media to declare he would not be driving for the team.
It came amid reports that McLaren had told Daniel Ricciardo he would not have a seat in 2023.
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Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said they could seek compensation, expected to be in the millions.
“Going to the High Court is over 90 per cent certain that’s what we’ll do,” he told Reuters.
“If the [board] says ‘your license is only valid at Alpine’ and then he [Piastri] says ‘that’s great but I’m never driving for them, I’ll just sit out a year,’ then you’ve got to go to the High Court for compensation.”
Szafnauer said Alpine would assess how much money they have invested in Piastri’s development.
This figure would include the costs associated with independent tests as well as thousands of kilometers in the team’s 2021 car.
According to Reuters, one power unit costs as much as $2.55 million (AUD)
“We haven’t sat down with the accountants to figure out everything we’ve spent,” said Szafnauer.
“We will have to do that if we go to the High Court.”
According to TheRace.com, the fact Alpine believe the matter will head to the court implies that the team is resigned to losing Piastri to McLaren with their focus now on compensation rather than holding onto its rising star.
Oscar Piastri has said he will not drive for Alpine in 2023.Source: Getty Images
HAMILTON’S REVEALS BIG HOLLYWOOD BLOW
Lewis Hamilton has sensationally revealed he had to turn down a role as a fighter pilot in Top Gun: Maverick, describing it as “the most upsetting call” he’s ever made.
The seven-time world champion counts himself as a good friend of actor Tom Cruise, who played the lead role in the 1986 original and the recent Hollywood blockbuster that has grossed a whopping $AUD1.8 billion.
Hamilton recalls being invited to the set of one of Cruise’s movies as the starting point of their friendship.
“One of the nicest people you’ll ever meet,” Hamilton told Vanity Fair.
“He invited me to his set years ago when he was doing Edge of Tomorrow, and then we just built a friendship over time.”
Once Hamilton caught wind a Top Gun sequel was in the works, he was desperate to be involved given his love of the film as a child.
“So when I heard the second one was coming out, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I have to ask him,’” Hamilton said.
Tom Cruise bumps fists with Lewis Hamilton before the British GP at Silverstone. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
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“I said, ‘I don’t care what role it is. I’ll even sweep something, be a cleaner in the back.’”
Cruise obliged, but he wasn’t going to give Hamilton a cameo appearance.
Instead, the megastar wanted the Mercedes driver to be one of the fighter pilots.
There was just one catch: filming was set to take place during the back-end of the 2021 F1 season when Hamilton was locked in a tense battle with Max Verstappen for the world championship.
Knowing he had to turn down the chance of a lifetime, Hamilton was devastated when he made the call.
“I’m a perfectionist,” Hamilton said.
“The most upsetting call that I think I’ve ever had.”
F1 TRACK SET TO MAKE APPEARANCE IN … CALL OF DUTY?
Christmas has come early for the cross section of F1 and Call of Duty fans.
Infinity Ward, the developers of the video game, released a trailer that confirmed the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore will be a playable map in the latest edition of the famous franchise.
In an official statement, Infinity Ward confirmed the map would be playable in the Modern Warfare II Beta for fans to get a taste of what’s to come.
“The Modern Warfare II Beta is set to feature a robust multiplayer experience going beyond the Core 6v6 experience with a variety of meticulously designed maps of various sizes, and an equally impressive set of Modes, Progression experiences, and other aspects that will be more thoroughly revealed at Call of Duty: Next,” the statement read.
“In addition, we revealed a fly-through of Marina Bay Grand Prix, where combat occurs within the main infield of an urban race circuit, one of the 6v6 Multiplayer maps confirmed for the Beta.”
The pit lane in Singapore will look a little different in this year’s Call of Duty. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
There does not look to be any official F1 branding or names of the drivers, suggesting it is not an official partnership between them and Call of Duty.
Funnily enough, the worlds of F1 and Call of Duty have intertwined previously, as Lewis Hamilton was a non-playable character in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, released in 2016.
LONG LIVE VEGAS! F1’S FIRST DATE IN SIN CITY LEAKED
What happens in Vegas might very well have great implications in the title race as the date for the Las Vegas GP has been leaked.
A Letter of Intent for the race between Liberty Media and the Convention Bureau was posted on Twitter and eagle-eyed fans noted the date.
The Las Vegas GP is slated to take place on November 18 and it would remain on that date until 2027 when the contract expires.
Based on the current F1 calendar, it would mean the race in Sin City would be the penultimate race of the season as the Abu Dhabi GP will take place on November 20 this year.
Wins don’t come much more emphatic than from 10th on the grid at the Hungaroring.
Max Verstappen’s against-the-odds victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix was only the fourth time someone’s won in Budapest starting further back than the front two rows. Not only was it a clear underline on Red Bull Racing’s superiority in the 2022 championship race, it was also a neat encapsulation of the entire season to date as the sport heads into the mid-season break.
It featured a wildly slow then unexpectedly and inexplicably fast Mercedes that threatened to win the race but ultimately couldn’t manage it.
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It featured Ferrari somehow fumbling what should’ve been an unimpeachable pace advantage early in the weekend to finish off the podium and denying it lacks operational sharpness.
And as its centrepiece it featured Red Bull Racing executing most effectively, Verstappen seizing his opportunities and both ending Sunday with enhanced points leads.
You almost don’t need to have seen any other race this year to understand where the championship stands and predict where it’ll head when racing resumes at the end of August after the mid-season break.
REMINDER: FERRARI TARGETED TO ONE-TWO
There’s no team that needs the mid-season break more urgently than Ferrari, which contributed yet another way to ship more points to Red Bull Racing and Verstappen in an already bleak title campaign.
All this despite having explicitly targeted a one-two finish just days earlier.
It won’t shock you to know that the team’s embarrassing loss came mainly from the pit wall.
Slow pit stops meant it took longer for Leclerc to pass pole-getter Russell than it should have, and it cost Sainz the opportunity to pass the Briton at all.
It then made the fatal error of swapping Leclerc onto the unfancied hard tire for his final stint in a hasty attempt to cover the undercutting Verstappen — despite the fact every other car that had used the tire was struggling badly for grip.
Not only did it cost him the lead, but he was forced into making a third stop that left him an almost unbelievable sixth at the flag.
Ferrari protested after the race that the problem wasn’t its strategy but the car, which in the cooler Sunday conditions wasn’t exhibiting the dominant edge it enjoyed during Friday practice.
Leclerc burnt by ANOTHER Ferrari blunder | 01:14
“Certainly we didn’t have the performance we were expecting,” team boss Mattia Binotto told Sky Sports. “Whatever the tyres, somehow the performance of our cars was not as expected.
“Today the car was not behaving well, I think that’s the point.”
Binotto isn’t wrong to make that argument, but he is exaggerating. Ferrari was slower than it was on Friday, but it was still the fastest car on track.
We can make a like-for-like comparison between Leclerc and Verstappen on the medium tire in the middle of the race, Even accounting for the Dutchman’s older rubber, the Monegasque was still quicker, or at least quick enough to take him on directly.
But the team let itself be spooked by Verstappen’s second undercut attempt with 32 laps to go. Rather than race to its own pace, run deep and switch to softs — which it did with Sainz — it brought Leclerc in immediately for the hard tire and suffered the consequences.
“I felt very strong on the medium. Everything was under control,” Leclerc told Sky Sports. “I don’t know why we needed to go on the hard.
“I said on the radio I was very comfortable on the medium and I wanted to go as long as possible on those tires because the feeling was good. I don’t know why we made a different decision.”
So really there are two key mistakes here. One is coolness under pressure in reading the race, and the other is misunderstanding the hard tyre, which the team thought would warm up after 10 laps but which in reality was never going to be effective. It’s not the first time it’s committed either foul this season.
Leclerc left Budapest with a whopping 80-point deficit to Verstappen and Ferrari is now 97 points adrift of Red Bull Racing. More worrying still, the team’s just 30 points ahead of Mercedes.
And with performance like that, would you be willing to back Ferrari to hold second?
Max & Lewis chuckle at Ferrari’s tactics | 00:33
MAX VERSTAPPEN PUTS ONE HAND ON THE TROPHY
If Charles Leclerc’s solo crash at the French Grand Prix effectively decided the destination of the title, Verstappen’s slick victory in Budapest gave him a chance to put one hand on the trophy.
An 80-point advantage is more than three clear race victories. He can now afford to finish second to Leclerc at every race, including the sprint in Brazil, and ship the point for fastest lap and he still won’t lose the title lead before the end of the season.
Before the mid-season break he’s been able to put the fate of the drivers championship completely in his own hands. No mean feat.
After last season’s down-to-the-wire blockbuster finale, you’ll be concerned to know we can start counting down the points needed to win the championship.
With nine rounds remaining, Verstappen can win the championship with just five more victories even if Leclerc finishes second to him in all of them. That puts him on track to claim the crown at the Japanese Grand Prix.
And perhaps Verstappen winning the next five races is unlikely — he’s yet to win more than three in a row this season — but with Mercedes potentially in the mix, he may have a team to pick points off Ferrari and Leclerc, in which case just finishing with one or two cars between him and the Monegasque regardless of their finishing position would probably be enough to get the job done.
The weekend wasn’t perfect of course. A power unit problem was part of the reason he qualified poorly, and a clutch issue spun him around in the race, temporarily costing him the lead. He’ll also need to serve a penalty for a new power unit at some point in the second half of the year, having installed his third and final motor this weekend.
But the gap is easily wide enough to absorb that pressure, and with Leclerc needing at least one more round of power unit penalties, it’s extremely difficult to imagine a scenario in which Verstappen doesn’t win the title with at least two rounds to spare
Max spins but still wins in Hungary | 01:11
MERCEDES UNEXPECTEDLY FAST BUT UNSURE ABOUT PERMANENCE
Mercedes arrived in Budapest in the brace position, appeared to be justified by its lackluster Friday performance, but by the end of the weekend it had collected its first pole of the year with George Russell and a second straight double podium.
Lewis Hamilton had even been on a late an unlikely charge for victory that team boss Toto Wolff said could’ve ended in success had he qualified higher up the grid rather than suffer a DRS failure in Q3.
What’s more, the Hungaroring layout should have been a struggle circuit for the car, which tends to prefer faster tracks — Hamilton almost won at Silverstone, both drivers showed good pace in Austria before crashing out of qualifying, and the team got both cars onto the podium in France.
Wolff, however, said it was less a case of not understanding the reasons for its speed in Budapest but rather figuring out if those reasons applied universally or only to the specific characteristics of the Hungaroring.
“It’s not that we have no clue why the car has been fast,” Wolff said, per The Race.
“We had directions during the season where we believed it would unlock the potential of the car, and it didn’t.
“So here we have another direction, and that was very quick on the stopwatch.
“But I don’t want to have another false dawn and we come to the realization tomorrow and Spa that it didn’t reap the benefits that we were hoping to have.
“In that respect, let’s just wait and see where this is going.”
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In that respect Mercedes must be frustrated to have to wait three weeks to try to validate its progress, though the triple-header comprising three distinct track types will be the ultimate test of its solution.
The team is long out of championship contention, but the W13’s fortunes are still relevant to the title outcome.
Potentially now quick enough to contend for regular merited podiums and perhaps victories at some tracks, how well Mercedes does on any given weekend will decide three things: how soon Verstappen wins the title — or, if you’re extremely optimistic, whether he wins the title; where Ferrari will finish in the constructors standings; and whether Leclerc will finish second in the drivers standings.
George Russell is now just 20 points behind Leclerc in the battle for a second, with Hamilton 12 points further back, and the team is now only 30 points short of Ferrari in the teams title battle.
It’s too late for the major prizes, but the minor placings are still very much up for grabs.
McLAREN STILL IN TOUCH FOR FOURTH DESPITE RICCIARDO PENALTY
The battle for best of the midfield is similarly still very much alive, with McLaren maintaining its four-point deficit to Alpine in fourth on the constructors title table.
Ricciardo pulls off epic double pass | 00:46
This was an improved weekend for Woking, one week after it introduced its major upgrade package at the French Grand Prix. Not only did Lando Norris again outqualify both French cars, but this week he retained his place ahead of them despite a slow first pit stop, ensuring maximum midfield points with seventh place.
He had Alpine’s unlikely one-stop strategy to thank in part. Alpine did n’t have a second set of medium tires for either driver, having burnt through them during practice, and so he had little choice but to go long, meaning he neither could challenge the leading Briton.
Daniel Ricciardo was the only weak point for McLaren. The Australian had been marginally off Norris’s pace through the race but quick enough to be running behind him before the first stops, even makingthat excellent double pass around the two battling Alpine drivers to hold the place.
But his struggles really started during his final stint on the hard tire and intensified once he was lapped, costing him precious tire temperature each time he was waved a blue flag.
The lack of grip on the white-walled tire was also behind him running wide and into Lance Stroll at turn 2, earning him a five-second penalty, when he was trying to let the Canadian by.
It left him out of the points, allowing a superb drive by Sebastian Vettel to be rewarded by one point, the German having recovered from 18th by avoiding that troublesome hard tire.
