TBK-Light.com

It's been reported that Drugovich is in advanced talks with Aston Martin for a reserve seat for next year

https://racingnews365.com/crb-ruling-de ... i-contract

More from Rencken on Piastri/Alpine, including the revelation that Alpine had never sent Piastri a legally-binding contract for 2023 or 2024.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

Alpine attorneys must had attended the same school as Ferrari racing engineers

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Motorsports trend for 2024: climate change ruining races everywhere

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgJayoH ... el=THERACE
The race channel sums this situation perfectly.

If that article is true then it is even more comical on Alpine's part. Imagine the embarrassment they would face if they did take it to the high court and they got legally pulled apart. Maybe there is a reason they want to now drop the issue and move on.

So who to Alpine then, the Ferrari academy freshman?

Between Gasly and Schumacher. Hope for the first as I'd love to see Herta in F1

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Motorsports trend for 2024: climate change ruining races everywhere

If Ocon treats Alonso the way he does on track now, imagine how he would react to a guy that he hates. I reckon they would have about 2 races before they get into it. Be good for us, but maybe not Alpine. Maybe they feel like they could control the situation.

With all this talk about who Alpha Tauri would replace Gasly with if he gets poached by Alpine, makes me wonder why they're not considering one of the RB junior drivers for Tsunoda's seat? I'm not sure why he seems to be considered a lock for next year. Maybe it's just me, but I've found him to be rather underwhelming this year.

I know this story is getting long in the tooth and a bit boring now, but have a read of this interview with Piastri.

With the way Otmar has acted I 100% believe Piastri. Alpine were told multiple times that he was leaving before their announcement, and Sfaznauer's "he thanked me" was deliberately done in front of some members of the team who didn't know so as to paint Oscar in a bad light.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... KkVy7.html

I can now totally understand Alonso that he went out of that clown team.
Otmar and the team has an horrible image now, I thought that it can't be worse then Cyril.
Ocon is also a difficult teammate, with no respect, if he does things like this season to Alonso, with an less experienced driver it will be carnage.
He also said he wants Schumacker, and not Gasly, it's fear from the speed and experience, disgusting guy, and of course you don't have to guess twice who is his manager.

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https://www.youtube.com/user/Alonsofanscro

Again asking: am I the only one that can see Renault pull the plug on the team within the next few years?

No you are not alone.

Sky just showed a quick interview with Otmar, he's still peddling the same old line about how much Alpine have done for Piastri and he should be driving for them in return. Embarassing. You value his services that much but didn't fancy giving him a contract?

It gets even worse. From all the narrative coming from Alpine you would have thought that they fully funded Piastri in F2. His F3 funding (Renault Academy) was his prize from winning the Formula Renault championship!



Turns out Piastri paid for most of his campaigns himself.



I saw some quotes that he needed 3,000,000 Euro for F2 and Renault contributed 500,000 of that. Far from the narrative that Alpine is pushing.

What they did though was open some doors for him through the Academy association. That much is true. But then they didn't sign him up and repeatedly kept on putting it off for months and made it known to all and sundry that he wasn't their preferred option? Does that sound like you are wanted? That sounds like an abusive relationship and the abuser assumes that you are going to stay because you are nothing without them.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... KkVy7.html

Yeah, this is why I didn't buy all the BS about loyalty and that drivers should have more respect for the teams that bring them in. Drivers have always been far more vulnerable than teams in F1, and shit like what Alpine was pulling is par for the course particularly for new drivers. The only way you survive in this sport is by putting yourself in a position of strength and looking after number one as Oscar has done, otherwise his career could have been wasted by being used as a pawn by Otmar and Laurent Rossi. The fact this has blown up in their faces and become such a public embarrassment is nice, but there are probably another 10 recent stories we don't know of where drivers (and their funding) were strung along and then tossed aside at the convenience of teams. I hope the other team bosses who came out and gave their two cents about Oscar's lack of respect are equally embarrassed now.

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I used to be more critical of Piastri/Webber when this broke out, but the more info comes to light the more infuriating it is from Alpine.

The business is naturally cut-throat and competitive enough as it is. Whether you want to be civil or an asshole about it, is entirely a personal choice, unrelated to actual performance.

How Alpine treat their drivers is how I would expect all teams to treat their drivers tbh

The Colin Chapman/Frank Williams "If we do this design, the driver will find it uncomfortable and probably crash and die" "Oh well, people will always want to drive the fastest car, we can always find other drivers" attitude

There's no such thing as loyalty in F1. Look at Red Bull throwing drivers into an untenable situation against Max and throwing them away when they inevitably cannot get up to speed in a 1 car team where they're just making up the numbers.
But it works both ways too. Max will do a Seb eventually and go to Ferrari when he's won a couple more titles with them. So the smart drivers just do what is best for them and don't get suckered into this "Company loyalty" mantra that these use to try and brainwash them
Lewis was a McLaren guy and jumped ship to Merc, Alonso was a Renault protege who stunned everyone by going to McLaren (but everyone knew behind the scenes Ferrari was his destination) and as I say, Vettel couldn't have been more of a Red Bull driver if he tried, yet the calling of Ferrari was enough to make him turn his back on them

Alpine are just trying to save face. Badly.

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

Can't see Tsunoda as a lock neither, and right now Red Bull's engine situation is a limbo. It's not clear whether Honda will stay in the business or not.

But, it is not like there is a strong name backed by Red Bull in their program right now. For many reasons it is hard to see any of their several drivers as a full-time F1 driver for next season.

Marko's just said that everything has been agreed for Herta to join AT, he just needs the superlicense.