McLaren has told Daniel Ricciardo that he will be replaced by compatriot Oscar Piastri next season.
Several outlets, including Autosport, are reporting that Piastri has signed a deal with the Woking outfit until 2023, initially as a reserve driver but then in the race seat to partner Lando Norris once a deal is agreed Ricciardo’s exit.
Ricciardo is contracted for next year after signing a three-year deal to trigger his exit from Renault (now Alpine) in 2020.
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RacingNews365 reported that the FIA’s contract recognition board has validated Piastri’s deal with McLaren, allowing him to replace the deal Alpine believed he had.
Ricciardo’s future in the sport has been the subject of intense speculation this year due to his continued struggles with his machinery, leaving a significant gap between him and teammate Lando Norris.
Norris currently leads Ricciardo 76-19 in the drivers’ standings.
McLaren has publicly backed the Australian, with chief executive Zak Brown telling Fox Sports last month that Ricciardo would see out his deal with the team, and last month Daniel took to social media to underline his determination to continue until the end of his contract. season
However, behind closed doors, the team has been negotiating a deal with reserve driver Alpine Piastri in a sign that it had lost faith in Ricciardo’s ability to turn his season around.
Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images Source: Getty Images
The matter came to a head after the Hungarian Grand Prix, when Fernando Alonso abruptly ended negotiations with Alpine in favor of a contract with Aston Martin for next season. When Alpine tried to recruit reserve driver Piastri in his place, he found his management team led by Mark Webber unresponsive.
Piastri later took to social media to deny that he would be racing for the French manufacturer next season, making it clear that the rumors of a move to McLaren were real.
It is unclear whether Ricciardo would seek a boost at another team and, if so, which teams he would be interested in dealing with.
Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer said earlier this week that he “didn’t think [it would be] no problem at all’ to sign Ricciardo in a direct swap with the defected Piastri despite the big Australian having left the French team at the end of 2020.
ESPN has reported that as many as four teams have contacted Ricciardo in recent months to gauge his interest in a change of scenery should he decide to leave McLaren early.
It’s bittersweet news for Australian Formula 1 fans as Ricciardo’s loss also means Piastri will finally get his full-time F1 promotion after a year on the sidelines as Alpine’s reserve driver.
Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images Source: Getty Images
Piastri is one of the most important talents of his generation. The 21-year-old Melburnian has only been racing for five-and-a-half years but has three titles on his CV, including crowns in Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3 and Formula 2 in back-to-back years from 2019 to 2021.
Only George Russell and Charles Leclerc boast a similarly decorated junior career, winning GP3 and F2 championships in successive years.
He was inducted into the Renault, now Alpine, driver academy in 2020, speeding up his rise – too fast, in fact, for Alpine, who had no F1 seats available this year to promote him.
He was forced into the role of reserve driver this season, and the team intended to loan him to Williams for at least the next two years on the assumption that Fernando Alonso would re-sign with the team.
It has since emerged that Alpine did not take up its option to renew Piastri’s contract before he became a free agent, which coincided with Alonso’s sudden defection to Aston Martin, leaving him release to sign with McLaren.
– with Max Laughton