Also, 2001.

It can often be surprising how many teams the drivers have been in- I was looking at Martin Brundle’s bio the other day and there was a long list of teams including Williams, Ligier, Jordon, Benetton, Brabham and McLaren plus some team called Zakspeed that I have never heard of

It can often be surprising how many teams drivers have been in

Yes, back in the old days drivers regularly swapped teams mid season. I’m sure the record for number of teams and engine manufacturers driven will come from back in the 50s or 60s.

Vettel actually draws with Alonso with 5- he raced very briefly with BMW Sauber (Alfa Romeo) before heading over to Torro Rosso, Red Bull, Ferrari and then finishing at Aston Martin

I’m sure the record for number of teams and engine manufacturers driven will come from back in the 50s or 60s.

Chris Amon, 13

Chris Amon, 13

Often cited as the best driver to never win a race. And people think Alonso makes bad decisions about swapping teams.

Looks like there’s some doubt as to whether it will be Piastri at Alpine next year- it might be Ricciardo instead!

Alpine surprise over Fernando Alonso switch to Aston Martin – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/62389741

If this is accurate…
Alonso has surpassed himself for being a dick (and that’s a high bar to clear)

Alonso has surpassed himself for being a dick (and that’s a high bar to clear)

Yep, for a 41 year old he’s certainly managed to hold on to his petulance!

shermer75

Yep, for a 41 year old he’s certainly managed to hold on to his petulance!

Another bridge burned then! Quite remarkable.

it might be Ricciardo instead!

Can I be the first to say “meh”?

It may be slightly more nuanced than just being a dick.
From the preceding page. (warning Flavio content):

Why Alonso’s ‘mega money’ Aston Martin deal has turned F1 driver market upside down

Alonso has always been very clear that he looks after no1  and always has. If teams that negotiate with him don’t take that into consideration then that’s their look out I guess.

Alpine made an offer to Alonso, AM made a better offer, for Alonso there’s no issue.

He’ll now be getting 2nd dibs on future upgrades and I’m sure there will be a few strategy mistakes to come!

My daughter just sent me this – childish, but I did snigger… 🙂

https://www.tiktok.com/@mercedesamgf1/video/7126476094898834694?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7127286209299662342

https://twitter.com/AlpineF1Team/status/1554500248432680960?t=gQIcAlA6KUUZeMbKC7NUHA&s=19

Well, I guess that helps Ricciardo keep his place at McLaren, for better or worse…

I’m pretty excited to see that. I hope he’s one of the ones who do well, and not one of the ones who gets chewed up and spat out

There are rumours of shenanigans in the manner that it has been announced

If @OscarPiastri and his manager @AussieGrit are at home in Australia then it is around 3am. Their ‘phones will be rather busy when they wake up. https://twitter.com/benjhunt/status/1554506591965253634

If @OscarPiastri and his manager @AussieGrit are at home in Australia then it is around 3am. Their ‘phones will be rather busy when they wake up. https://t.co/hsZPAier6O

— Rob (@GrandPrixDiary) August 2, 2022

Piastri deserves the opportunity, I just hope that Alpine haven’t jumped the gun here.

Given that Piastri to Williams was meant to be a done deal, it rather narrows the potential options for Mick Schumacher and Ricciardo.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/62400513

The BBC are also hinting at some uncertainty around the signing

Piastri says he won’t be driving for Alpine…

Piastri says Alpine announced him for 2023 against his will

Perhaps Alpine were going to rebrand as Dacia – so company Sanderos all round!! 🤣🤣

Omg. Fast moving stuff! This really is the silliest of silly seasons

News just in.

The Ferrari strategy team have been sacked and are now in charge of driver recruitment at Alpine

The Ferrari strategy team have been sacked and are now in charge of driver recruitment at Alpine

Lol!

Otmar is having a bad couple of days. Good job he starts his holiday soon…

The wording of Piastri’s response seems remarkably robust for a driver who’s been offered an F1 race seat at a competitive team. To me it says “I’ve already signed for another team”.

This is going to run. Five quid on Alpine getting Rich Energy as their 2023 title sponsor.

The rumour mill has him going to Mclaren.

Also loving all the other sports teams around the world that are announcing that they’ve signed Piastri 😂

Also loving all the other sports teams around the world that are announcing that they’ve signed Piastri 😂

I don’t do Twitter, so can someone post up some of the more hilarious piss takes so we can all have a laugh?

👀 | Welcome Oscar Piastri…

Piastri joins the Peacocks from Alpine F1. #PiastriAnnounced🤞#UpThePeacocks pic.twitter.com/HZenU391sj

— Taunton Town FC (@TauntonTownFC) August 2, 2022

Live update on the Oscar Piastri situation: pic.twitter.com/sDiPgS4I4C

— 🏁 JASON ¹⁰ 🏁 // (@jxson7_) August 2, 2022

Imagine this was happening to Haas…Netflix would be having a field day with Gunther Steiner 🤣🤣🤣

👀 | Welcome Oscar Piastri…

Piastri joins the Peacocks from Alpine F1. #PiastriAnnounced🤞#UpThePeacocks pic.twitter.com/HZenU391sj

— Taunton Town FC (@TauntonTownFC) August 2, 2022

2023 new swimmer confirmed:
🤝 Oscar Piastri

After four years as part of the COMAST family, Oscar Piastri is promoted to our top squad from 2023. pic.twitter.com/b8Trp5hWmJ

— City of Manchester Aquatics (@CoManchAq) August 2, 2022

🗣 NEW SIGNING ALERT!!

Piastri joins Astralis from Alpine F1. #PiastriAnnounced🤞#ASTWIN | #AstralisFamily pic.twitter.com/HPRcgv7Z2e

— Astralis Rainbow Six (@AstralisR6) August 2, 2022

The F1 teams themselves are actually being quite funny too

Piastri to do a guest performance at the 2022 big Bike Bash??

Oscar Piastri currently the Paris Beauvais of F1 https://t.co/Y6CkMFRIUl pic.twitter.com/AI0Pk2fhKH

— Ryanair (@Ryanair) August 2, 2022

https://twitter.com/justin__jayne/status/1554578817834012675?s=20&t=Xtp7vRiq77HwDDg4Dv4mBQ

Am calling it. Stroll to McLaren.

Piastri’s rejection of Alpine just doesn’t make sense to me unless Red Bull or Merc have guaranteed him a future seat. Surely a guaranteed race seat at Alpine is better than a possible seat at McLaren. The only thing I can think is that either Merc have signed him up to a Williams seat like they did with Russell or Red Bull have signed him for AT with a promise of a future Red Bull seat.

Just read Joe Saward’s notebook blog:
https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2022/08/02/green-notebook-from-mosonmagyarovar/#respond

So he’s speculating that McLaren might swap Ricciardo with Palou in Indycars which would free up an F1 seat for Piastri. A week ago I would have wondered if he was smoking crack, this week it seems about as plausible as anything.

Surely a guaranteed race seat at Alpine is better than a possible seat at McLaren.

But it’s only a guaranteed seat now that Alonso has upped sticks. Until this week it probably looked like the Alpine seat wouldn’t be opening up for another year or two, in which case he’d have been trying to find a loophole in the contract that would allow him to sign for a different team if a seat became available for 2023. Presumably that’s all happened already.