Dhe highly sought-after top talent Oscar Piastri will be driving for McLaren in Formula 1 starting next year. The competent arbitral tribunal (CRB) ruled on Friday that the Australian’s two-year contract with the traditional English team is valid. Piastri had not entered into any other binding commitments.
Immediately after the CRB’s message, the teams involved in the dispute reacted. Piastri will be Lando Norris’ teammate next year, McLaren said. Piastri has already put him on an impressive career in the junior classes. Together with Lando, he will bring us closer to our goals,” said German team manager Andreas Seidl. “I’m very excited to be making my Formula 1 debut for such a prestigious team as McLaren and very grateful for the opportunity I’ve been offered,” said Piastri.
The team now has two of the most talented drivers in Formula 1 under contract. Piastri (21) is the current Formula 2 champion, and Norris (22) also rushed through the junior series with great success and was already a regular driver in the premier class at the age of 19.
Alpine, the Renault works team, had trained Piastri for years, wanted to promote him to regular driver next year and insisted on a valid contract. However, Piastri said he wasn’t committed to Alpine, so the CRB had to decide.
On Friday, Alpine now accept the verdict, “we consider the matter closed and will announce our driver pairing for 2023 in due course”. The team is looking for a successor for Fernando Alonso and colleagues for Esteban Ocon. In addition to Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Mick Schumacher, who has not yet received a contract with Haas for 2023, is also being traded.
