If you have finished your first bowl of popcorn, we invite you to go (re)fill it because the Formula 1 Circus is playing extra time around the Oscar Piastri affair.
After having played a very bad trick on the French team by claiming that he would not drive for it "next season", despite the official announcement from Alpine on Twitter, the story could be turned around. against him.
Indeed, according to
Auto Hebdo
magazine , the Contract Recognition Board (CRB), the FIA's Contract Recognition Board, has validated both the young Australian's lease with Alpine for 2022 and that with McLaren, with whom he is would be agreed for the 2023 season.
Szafnauer and Alpine will go all the way
Additionally, according to Reuters, Oscar Piastri contractually committed in November 2021 to run his first F1 race for Alpine in 2023, with the possibility of being loaned out to another team, presumably Williams, for a year.
In a long interview with El Confidencial, Otmar Szafnauer seemed sure of his facts about the legality of the contracts signed with Piastri.
So much so that he now plans to take the case to court.
"We are more than 90% sure we will go to the High Court, that's what we will do," he told Reuters.
“If the CRB says 'your license is only valid with Alpine', and he (Piastri) says 'that's great but I'll never drive for them, I'll sit for a year' , then you have to go to the High Court to get compensation,” he detailed.
It's hard to say how this story will end, one thing is certain: there is likely to be excitement behind the scenes between now and the next Belgian Grand Prix on August 28th.
Come on, popcorn round for everyone!
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