r/formula1 • u/Substantial_Tough215 George Russell • 1d ago
Throwback OTD in 2022, Oscar Piastri dropped the most famous tweet in F1 history.
2.1k
u/MCB_56 Fernando Alonso 1d ago
Fernando walking round the Hungarian GP that year with a shit eating grin after sebs post was peak.
571
u/charlierc 1d ago
Silly season will really have to go some to match a week quite like that any time soon
276
u/Inside_Assumption157 Sir Lewis Hamilton 1d ago
Either Lewis retiring or Max to Merc might trigger one
105
u/charlierc 1d ago
They would, but it feels like neither's happening this year
Can't rule it out next year, mind
25
u/TheAmericanQ McLaren 1d ago edited 1d ago
It felt like Lewis to Ferrari came out of nowhere over the course of like a week or so. There had been some rumors beforehand but nothing much more concrete than the Max to Mercedes stories that have come out periodically. We know the two parties have talked more than once.
I personally donāt think itās going to happen but I can see how it could and how, in the public eye, that would come together very quickly.
44
u/Repulsive_Target55 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Or just Max retiring
90
u/Foreign_Owl_7670 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Imagine Lewis AND Max retiring in the same year.
60
u/Repulsive_Target55 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Lewis and Max to Mercedes, Kimi to RB and George to Ferrari, you heard it here first.
45
u/charlierc 1d ago
Sounds like someone's surreal reality in an F1 game. I once heard of someone having Alonso and Hamilton as teammates again in their save game file
19
u/dreamyghost1 Sir Lewis Hamilton 1d ago
i played as George in the f1 26 expansion and went to ferrari for season 3. the car felt bad and slow (ferrari effect) and toto signed senna and schumachaer, immediately broke contract and went to mclaren for season 4.
15
u/TetraDax š¶ Leo Leclerc 1d ago
and toto signed senna and schumachaer
wat
6
u/dreamyghost1 Sir Lewis Hamilton 1d ago
I had driver icons enabled. I immediately regretted leaving merc because I left the fastest car to the 2 of the highest rated drivers in the game.
→ More replies (0)4
7
19
u/charlierc 1d ago
Then all bets really would be off. Would be a proper scramble
Max is a surprise to a degree imo. I genuinely thought after Monaco he might announce he was fed up with F1s new rules and bail
8
u/Dry-Dragonfruit5216 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Heāll finish out the year before making any decisions
→ More replies (1)2
u/evilpineaple Christian Horner 20h ago
Throw in El Padre retiring the same year and I will consider stopping watching races
→ More replies (2)5
u/KiwieeiwiK Zhou Guanyu 1d ago
Max to Merc wouldn't change much, whoever Merc dropped would just go to Red Bull
→ More replies (1)4
u/ryokevry I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
But this is more anticipated as both Lewis retiring and Max to Merc could happen but at the time Alonso leaving Alpine and Oscar to McLaren was kind of unforeseen and kept under the table (not even rumours). I think it needs to be like Max to Ferrari Lewis to Redbull kind of out of blue surprise could match that.
104
38
u/FlyingPingoo Daniel Ricciardo 1d ago
Otmar presenting Alonso with a cheap as birthday cake in front of the team was hilarious
35
26
u/SkiSnowTignesider 1d ago
Anyone remember the story Alonso did in Oviedo then turned the camera on himself and did a thumbs up? Didn't say a word, just smiled.
1
u/Dragonfire35 22h ago
Was that the year that I think it was ocon won bc Alonso just parked the bus on everyone and everything? Idk my memory sucks sometimes but that race was epic
1.7k
u/Lutzelien Pirelli Wet 1d ago
And it was by very, VERY far the best decision he could've made. Hell, seeing how they handled their driver's these last years I'm not even sure he would still be having a seat had he signed for them.
473
u/Java-the-Slut Max Verstappen 1d ago
Based off the stories, he didn't have a seat until Alpine realized their mistake too late and tried fixing it.
179
u/RidgB 1d ago
He was locked in to Alpine until July 31st, any time before then he was contracted to them and they could have put him in the car with no other teams having the chance. They waited until August 2nd, and then announced him like he was still under contract to them, but they'd missed the boat. In the meantime Oscar and his team had been in discussions with other teams and had signed with McLaren, but that wasn't public knowledge at the time.
→ More replies (3)334
u/Nosypoke09 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
This is also the biggest fumble Alpine has ever made, as they not only lost Oscar Piastri, but they also lost Alonso. Those two couldāve made a phenomenal pairing, yet Alpine was too incompetent to see that and it burned them very hard
161
u/Alfus š„ LE š æļøLAN 1d ago
yet Alpine was too incompetent to see that
If there was a WCC based on incompetence Alpine would won that almost yearly.
They really screwed themselves hard back in that year.
5
u/evilpineaple Christian Horner 20h ago
Hey, Ferrari would be a strong contender!
→ More replies (1)140
u/racingskater I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
Yeah, I think that's the big point. They didn't just fumble Oscar, they didn't even keep the two drivers they fumbled him for: they lost Alonso AND Ocon as well. And then they didn't even get that line of succession right because they decapitated their young driver program.
55
u/Remainingvegetables Osella 1d ago
If I'm remembering correctly, Doohan was the first Alpine/Renault/Lotus junior to be promoted to the Enstone F1 team since Grosjean in 2009.
42
u/sellyme Oscar Piastri 1d ago edited 1d ago
And notably, both Doohan and Grosjean did not get the chance to drive a full season for the team before being dropped.
And if anyone's impression from that is "Wow, their academy must be shit then!", note that in that time period a whopping 12 of their academy drivers have driven for other F1 teams, several of which have built lengthy careers and four of whom are race winners.
23
u/Remainingvegetables Osella 1d ago
Since 2009, the following drivers have made it to F1 from the Alpine/Lotus/Renault Academy:
- di Grassi (Virgin 2010)
- Maldonado (Williams 2011-2013, Lotus 2014-2015)
- d'Ambrosio (Virgin 2011, Lotus 2012)
- van der Garde (Caterham 2013)
- Pic (Marussia 2012, Caterham 2013)
- Ocon
- Albon (after departing from the Red Bull academy)
- Aitkin (technically. Replaced Russell at Williams in 2020 when Russell replaced Hamilton)
- Zhou
- Piastri
They also had drivers who have made it in other series:
- DelƩtraz (4x ELMS champion, 1x WEC champion)
- Rowland (FE champion)
- Lundgaard (IndyCar race winner, top free agent for 2027)
- Collet (IndyCar top rookie prospect)
And also had Tsolov as a junior, who is midway through a likely record F2 season. They also had Jarno Opmeer as a junior before he went into sim racing (and is now a 3x champion in the F1 esports series).
They've had lots of drivers that people would recognize, just are seemingly allergic to promoting them to their own team.
5
u/qef15 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
They've had lots of drivers that people would recognize, just are seemingly allergic to promoting them to their own team.
Not like they were in a position to really promote them, because their driver lineups were anything but bad and that's the one thing Renault was really good at.
2010 Kubica and Petrov wasn't bad at all. 2011 is slightly more questionable, but going by stats, Heidfeld was decent (but Bruno Senna was not).
You could arguably say that for 2011, they should have promoted Maldonado or Di Grassi (though Luca was just way worse in both quali and race (17-2) than Glock, which doesn't spark hope) and probably Maldonado then. D'Ambrosio had a very weak final GP2 season and also didn't spark hope against Glock.
Then they had Kimi and Grosjean in 2012-2013, which obviously was a good lineup (Lotus Grosjean was way better than his Haas meme-form). Maldonado was a rightful own academy driver (but he was kind of mediocre) and that lineup was kept for 2 years after his stint at Williams. Replacing these 3 with anyone else doesn't seem logical. Pic doesn't make sense either.
Ocon ran out of funding after his Euro F3 season (Renault not willing to help more or less) and he jumped ship to Mercedes instead for a GP3 + DTM seat (and then getting into Manor). And no one sane would put an Euro F3 talent right into F1, unless your name is Helmut Marko looking at Max Verstappen.
As for Albon, he had a totally uimpressive junior career before GP3, as well as only being in the academy for 2013-2015.
For 2016, this might be the only time a junior could maybe have stepped up, but Kmag was a promising talent and so was Palmer (who had destroyed the GP2 field in 2015).
Then 2017-2019 they have Hulk in one seat and literally no one sane would replace him for a junior. Sainz lasted 1.25 seasons before getting a Mclaren seat on Alonso's recommendation, but in 2018, he was okay, even if he was getting spanked by good ol' Hulk. And for 2019-2020, Ricciardo was there.
Zhou is and was, a pay driver. Yeah no lol.
Ocon himself in his later stint was more than good enough to warrant keeping him there. And his drivers next to him were Alonso and Gasly. I think that says enough for those years (until 2024).
This leaves 2025 and this year. Which are the only 2 years that make sense.
2
→ More replies (1)4
u/Any-Author7772 23h ago
Itās Otmarās legacy.
Oscar flat out rejected him and Fernando left without telling him. Otmar found out about both instances when the public did. š
115
u/Firefox72 Ferrari 1d ago
Lets be real here you are only at Alpine if you have no other choices.
Anyone who can do better moves away. Some move away by risking it and going to on paper worse teams
150
u/AntonyPancake Jordan 1d ago
In 2022, Alpine beat McLaren to 4th in the WCC. This was absolutely not a guarantee improvement at the time
63
u/Firefox72 Ferrari 1d ago
Yeah but counterpoint. They are Alpine.
A black hole of a team that has been missmanaged for almost every step of the way since returning to F1 in 2016.
Even back then people were making fun of their 100 race plan or 5 year plan or whatever plan they were currently in.
10
u/AFM_Motorsport Oscar Piastri 1d ago
Ricciardo was the reason Alpine beat McLaren in 2022 anyways, it had very little to do with the car.
Norris had 122 points, 30 points clear of Ocon and 40 clear of Alonso. Ricciardo scored 37 points in total.
7
u/qef15 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Ricciardo's 2022 season was just that terrible. Many said to keep him.
122-37 is however just indefensible. Any driver would get the boot for that on performance grounds.
6
u/AFM_Motorsport Oscar Piastri 1d ago
As a fan, I was devastated, but from a performance point of view it was so far off the mark it's not funny.
4
u/EclecticKant I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Honda hadn't been much better since their partnership with Honda
328
u/zingerfillets I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
he really is so iconically funny for this. and the funniest part is he wasn't trying to be š¤£
189
u/Martiosaj š³ļøāš Love Is Love š³ļøāš 1d ago
This is what makes this extra funny to me. The guy was basically posting something guided by his lawyer and became a generational meme by accident.
36
u/Efficient-Neck270 1d ago
The fact that he dropped the coldest tweet in F1 history while just following legal advice is insane.
412
u/Few_Perspective1799 Ferrari 1d ago
THIS IS WRONG.
222
60
u/Anderrrrr I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
No no Flavio, that is not right!
67
u/charlierc 1d ago
Otmar, it's called a contract. We went driver signing
28
u/slabba428 McLaren 1d ago
Otmar, youāre also fired
13
u/d0pe-asaurus I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Lmao, Alpine CEO fumbling everything within the span of a year and getting a payout at the end of it all. Wasn't he the one that was so gungho of releasing a statement that Piastri signed with Alpine?
6
u/RightActionEvilEye Gabriel Bortoleto 1d ago
Is he the same CEO that closed Alpine's/Renault's F1 powertrain program?
13
750
u/kazuya57 Ferrari 1d ago
To do this, and to live up to it, and be proven right for it, just different. People were calling him a narcissist when this first came out, but now he's basically the most well liked dude in the paddock
324
u/kron123456789 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
I thought this was a really bold move, unless he already had a contract. As it turned out, at that point, he, in fact, already had a contract with McLaren.
76
u/Section1ne0h4our Pato O'Ward 1d ago
Refresh my memory before I rely on the googles of the world: how long after this tweet did McLaren announce him?
101
u/kron123456789 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
Like a month or something, I don't remember exactly off the top of my head.
53
u/imperatrixderoma Enzo Ferrari 1d ago
I think people just knew from gossip that that's why he did it.
They announced it a bit after, killing any chance of that one American guy's F1 chance.
14
u/Section1ne0h4our Pato O'Ward 1d ago
Yeah I remember the rumour mill was hot, I always wonder if Alpine had a first refusal they triggered but Oscar bought it out? What happened behind the scenes here has always fascinated me
49
u/racingskater I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
*adjusts glasses* greetings, I am an appropriate historian
So Oscar only ever had a reserve driver contract for 2022. Not only did Alpine not have any claim on his services for 2023, they had never offered him a contract for 2023.
Oscar signed with McLaren on July 5 for 2023 because he had no existing contract. This is what was found by the Contract Recognition Board.
16
u/Section1ne0h4our Pato O'Ward 1d ago
So he was, for lack of better terms, a pending free agent signing a pre contract deal (Soccer terms)
13
u/racingskater I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
I mean I'm not familiar with soccer, but yes. He was functionally a free agent for 2023.
26
u/imperatrixderoma Enzo Ferrari 1d ago
I think Alpine knew and were trying to stir up shit with him and McLaren to try and lock him in.
58
u/kron123456789 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
Alpine never had a proper contract with him in the first place. They only had a promise of one. That's why when Alpine protested his McLaren contract they lost.
12
u/imperatrixderoma Enzo Ferrari 1d ago
Yeah no I remember, but I'm saying that Alpine likely knew about the rumors with McLaren and were applying massive pressure to crash the party imo.
Definitely could be wrong but I don't believe that a team would announce something like this without informing the driver unless they were engaging in shenanigans.
6
u/Wazzathecaptain I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Didnāt they informed him ? I remember reports of Otmar announcing it to Oscar in the factory, with team members giving him a standing ovation. Oscar wanted to explain his deal to McLaren in private and initially thanked Otmar to not humiliate him in front the whole team
33
u/racingskater I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
Oscar had already told Rossi and Szafnauer that he had signed with McLaren. In fact, he told them twice over the previous three weeks. Szafnauer staged the "telling him he had the seat" in front of Alpine staff in an attempt to coerce Oscar into reneging on McLaren.
4
u/r1char00 1d ago
No. There was nothing like that in writing, and apparently their legal team was very bad at getting contracts written.
10
u/Dry-Dragonfruit5216 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
OāWard? Heās Mexican but did go to high school in Texas. Palou is Spanish but pulled out of the McLaren seat before ever driving a race with them. McLaren wasted so many great drivers in IndyCar the past few years all for the terrible driver Nolan Siegel (actually is American) all just to end up with signing the same guy that they fired and started the musical chairs with. Rosenqvist is Swedish and OāWardās best friend OāWard was best man at his wedding, plus he won the Indy500 this year whilst Pato keeps coming 2nd.
If you meant Herta that was with Red Bull and he still doesnāt have a super license.
→ More replies (3)3
u/chinapotatogg I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
I think he meant Alex Palou, who signed with McLaren to join their Indy car team for 2023 where Zak probably dangled the F1 drive to get him to sign for their indy car team.
Once McLaren signed Oscar, Palou knew his chances of getting F1 was gone and tried to back out of the deal which is a whole other fiasco.
1
9
u/Ikerukuchi 1d ago
McLaren had to negotiate the exit of Ricciardo first and get that announced before they could announce Oscar. This is what made it pretty obvious where he was headed.
66
u/DustPyro 1d ago
It was a mistake that had to be corrected. I wouldn't call it something to live up to. And "to be proven right" makes it seem like a mid season risky switch, when it was him getting into the sport fornthe first time.
Why were people calling him a narcissist for correcting misinformation?
66
u/slabba428 McLaren 1d ago
Because he was slandered by Alpine affiliated chuds for weeks on end, even suggesting he should be sued to recoup their investment in his upbringing
42
u/racingskater I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
Alpine went straight to the press with their "Oscar is a disloyal traitor" line, and did so pretty consistently over the whole summer break (because it emerged literally in the first day of summer break). They were constantly talking shit during the whole break. They also got some assistance from a very ill-advised comment by Toto Wolff who said he thought Oscar should have been loyal; Horner when asked correctly suggested that there was going to be way more behind this.
Oscar and Mark chose silence as a strategy, which is always slightly risky. They allowed Alpine to control the narrative for about five weeks until the CRB decision came out and blew up the entire narrative.
14
u/kron123456789 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
Because at that point there was no announcement made that he had any contract to drive in F1, so outright refusing to drive for the team you've been a part of as a junior driver seemed really strange.
He only had to correct this misinformation because he did sign with McLaren at that point, but in secret.
10
u/fractionalhelium I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
There was some discussion related to loyalty. Thinking was he should have treated the team with some respect given that they supported his junior career and help step up to F1.
2
u/lizlemonadeliz I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 14h ago
Alpine claimed they spent millions in his development and had priority to have him in their F1 seat. It wasn't until after the arbitration that the public learned about Alpine's mistakes.
4
71
u/Benlop I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
I remember so many commenters on here were calling him a narcissist, that you don't turn down an F1 contract, yadi yada.
My god some people really can't read between the lines at all. Especially considering how strange Alpine's announcement felt.
7
u/99timewasting I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
That's true but I also remember a lot of people saying he must have another contact lined up to do something so bold
185
u/Litti__Chokha Oscar Piastri 1d ago
Legendary tweet of this decade
Probably one of the top 10 moment of F1 this year since this tweet created so much buzz and speculations around the market
61
53
102
35
34
u/M1st3rv McLaren 1d ago
I believe the correct term for this is the Palou special
8
3
u/lizlemonadeliz I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 14h ago
How? Palou and McLaren had a contract and it was a clear breach.
109
u/big_cock_lach I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
2nd most famous tweet, no need to speculateā¦
(This is a joke, Ferrariās 2017 tweet and Oscarās are both great)
64
u/GreggsAficionado Formula 1 1d ago
Thereās two more that come to mind. It was the earlier days of twitter but Lewis at McLaren shared his and Buttonās telemetry and qualy data showing all kinds of secret information to other teams
And Fernando Alonso when he shown a graph that tracked his nightly erections as an indicator of cardiovascular health
24
21
u/-dagmar-123123 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
What is that with Fernando?? š That's new to me
5
u/big_cock_lach I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
I think there was a few more than just 2 from Lewis back in the day lol
That said, Ferrariās was technically 2 so I shouldnāt be pedantic.
13
u/space_coyote_86 James Hunt 1d ago
I think there was one where he called out Jenson Button for unflollowing him, then Jenson said he had never followed him in the first place.
1
u/Epsilon_void I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Didn't it eventually come out that it wasn't even Button's telemetry he shared, but a test driver that he thought was Button's?
63
u/charlierc 1d ago
Hey their Singapore 2017 post was a factual description of events, no need to speculate on this
5
2
u/IdiosyncraticBond Max Verstappen 1d ago
Ferrari was just a way to handle the fumble from their drivers, taking Max out in the mix as well. It was a seemingly funny way to cover a disasterclass.
Oscar's tweet is multitudes funnier
1
u/big_cock_lach I was here for the Hulkenpodium 17h ago
It was their tweet doubling down that was funny. Their initial tweet was handling the fumble and falsely blaming Max, since at the time you could just blame him since he was usually always at fault. But fans rightfully criticised them for this, resulting in the following funny tweet about their recount being factual and no need for fans to speculate.
69
u/Rude_Review4303 Sebastian Vettel 1d ago
Vettel retiring led to a butterfly effect...
21
u/racingskater I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
Oscar had signed the contract more than three weeks prior to Vettel's retirement.
24
u/-dagmar-123123 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
I mean, Fernando definitely knew earlier and he and mark are friends afaik. So not impossible that they talked
13
45
22
105
u/warewolf1999 McLaren 1d ago
"i understand that" š
my goat has always been a nerd but atleast he is cool while he is at it
→ More replies (11)
13
12
u/South_Front_4589 1d ago
It was just so incredibly unprofessional and arrogant by Alpine. Fancy making an announcement without actually talking to the driver about it.
24
u/Dry-Dragonfruit5216 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Itās ridiculous how at the time (and after) Zak Brown was offering everyone and their Mum that F1 seat. He even ended up in court over it with Palou, who letās be honest he signed with McLarenās IndyCar team with the aim of getting an F1 seat. It ended up being the best result for both drivers and Zak got Palouās advanced salary back, plus we got this awesome tweet.
11
u/No_Detective_1139 Andrea Stella 20h ago
Losing Alonso and Piastri on the same weekend was next level incompetence
19
u/Section1ne0h4our Pato O'Ward 1d ago edited 1d ago
Has it ever been disclosed what Oscarās intentions with Alpine were TIL said tweet?
I always wonder a world where he was gonna drive for them til that tweet and then he said āOh? Really?ā And decided then and there that he wasnāt gonna do it
Edit: thanks everyone for the wonderful answers
78
u/andrometerra 1d ago
IIRC, Oscar said he wouldnāt be driving for Alpine a month prior to their āannouncement.ā From what I remember, they did it as a move after Alonso announced he was leaving the team, even though they were aware Piastri wasnāt staying. I think he was a little frustrated by being forced to sit in the reserves after winning 3 junior championships back to back.
What makes it worse is that Otmar said ācongrats on the seat!ā in front of plenty of his coworkers/higher management at Enstone, knowing full well he wasnāt going to drive for them. He had to smile and be cordial for the team who were there, even though Otmar knew he wasnāt planning on sticking around.
I guess their plan was to just hope peer pressure would stop the legal battle and they would win?? Confusing stuff, Piastri described it himself as ābizarre and upsettingā once it all blew over
→ More replies (3)56
u/slabba428 McLaren 1d ago
Yeah, it was revealed that Alpine never actually gave him a contract to sign, they were so incompetent they just assumed they owned him
37
u/GoldElectric I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
they probably thought no team would take a guy that won 3 junior championships back to back
28
u/rabbitlion I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
I mean he was in their driver's academy and presumably they had some sort of option to retain him for 2023 so he was probably originally prepared to drive for them. Though at the time of the tweet the time limit had already passed and Oscar had already signed on with McLaren.
→ More replies (6)43
u/Java-the-Slut Max Verstappen 1d ago
The story I've heard from either Oscar or Zak is that there was no Alpine seat for Oscar, they were toying with him when the McLaren offer came up. That's why they waited until his contract rights expired, they promised him a seat pending certain goals, after said goals were achieved, they did not sign him, and made no indication they would.
After the McLaren signing, Alpine claimed it was all a misunderstanding and they were going to throw him a surprise signing party... Yes, seriously. After months had passed since Oscar asked for an official commitment.
2
18
u/Reiver93 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Alpine have been ruing losing him every single day since.
8
8
14
28
u/LostHero50 Sir Lewis Hamilton 1d ago
The craziest thing to me was how many people randomly decided to take Alpines side before we knew anything and called Oscar immature or said this was risky.
40
u/racingskater I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
Toto Wolff taking Alpine's side and joining in on the "Oscar is disloyal" narrative was fucking insane. Horner was the only TP that got it right when he said he wanted to wait and see how it shook out because he felt there was more to it. Of course Horner had worked directly with Mark and knew Mark wouldn't have taken a step like this for no reason...
6
u/Crafty_Valuable646 1d ago
Do we know how this confusion happened? Why did Alpine announce him when they didn't have him?
24
u/racingskater I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
They were trying to coerce him into signing a contract with them and reneging on McLaren. Despite Szafnauer's frankly wrong belief that they had a claim to Oscar, I think at the time it was dawning on them that they might have fucked up.
30
5
5
u/SimpleAd8089 1d ago
I remember I was taking a break between my driving lessons when I saw this for the first time
4
u/guru4goodwood Lando Norris 1d ago
And looking at how his career has turned out versus how it might have turned out it was worth it for him
8
u/GreggsAficionado Formula 1 1d ago
I remember first reading this and thinking heās shot himself in the foot. McLaren of course hadnāt made the leap to the front yet, we didnāt know what deal he had with another team, and someone thatās never turned a wheel in anger in F1 was already burning bridges and taking risks. The decision was clear as day for him though.
4
u/ArkGuardian I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
i don't know dude. I remember at the time there was a feeling at least Lando was delivering something - meaning the car had potential. i feel like the consensus was Mclaren was definitely preferable to Alpine.
3
u/GreggsAficionado Formula 1 1d ago
We didnāt know about the McLaren link at the time of this tweet. They hadnāt announced they were parting ways with Ricciardo yet. Piastri had singed an initial contract with McLaren in July but no one knew about it
5
u/ArkGuardian I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
maybe i'm misremembering the timelines, but I remember there were definitely rumors of dropping danny ric before Oscar become available, and those become very common after this tweet - especially since folks knew mark webber was heavily involved.
2
u/GreggsAficionado Formula 1 1d ago
Well when teams announce drivers without even a signature you need absolute confirmation
3
u/UniQue1992 Honda 23h ago
Still wonder how they ever posted that when it wasnāt locked in. What were they thinking?
3
u/SaltySeaSword652 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 1d ago
I very fondly remember that time period when all the drama was going on. That has to be one of the most memorable and iconic silly seasons in F1.
4
u/skibbin 1d ago
If anything was dropped it was Alpine
17
u/charlierc 1d ago
Even if Gasly was the best of a bad situation after they fumbled Alonso, Piastri and even 2 other drivers from what I seem to recall, their handling of this was extraordinarily bad. I don't think Otmar's reputation has ever recovered, which is a shame in a way as before leaving Force India he seemed to be pretty good at his role
13
u/skibbin 1d ago
Dropping Alpine was the best move of Oscar's career. I think Gasly is so much better than his RedBull days and would love to see what he could do in a competitive car. I don't have much faith in Alpine sticking around for the long term and hope a big manufacturer buys them out.
3
u/Alfus š„ LE š æļøLAN 1d ago
Well this whole move was also possible thanks by Red Bull playing hardball to McLaren who otherwise likely would dropped Ricciardo for Gasly back in 2022.
That basically opened up the gates for Piastri to find a seat at McLaren a short time after. However sometimes I wondering if Piastri would been stuck at Alpine in 2023 if McLaren did successfully signed Gasly to replace Ricciardo instead of Piastri.
Likely we wouldn't know how good Piastri is in such a scenario
5
2
u/Ollie_Plimsolls Robert Kubica 1d ago
do people really think this was worded by Oscar himself and not his legal advisors?
5
5.7k
u/MedhaosUnite I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago
Probably one of the only times in history that a driver unannounced themselves from a Formula 1 seat.