The Oscar Piastri Saga

so it was a few months ago i was lamenting how oscar piastre was not in the frame for a formula one seed despite winning every other championship there is to win in existence i mean i made a whole ass video about it and to a lot of people it was a mutual opinion that oscar was made for a berth on the formula one grit yes at the time there wasn't any movement on that fast forward to the present day and not only does mr piastre have a seat but the whole process of getting him onto the grid has entailed such a comedic series of blunders in one part and a large wave of expectation for a dude who hasn't even turned a wheel in an official grand prix weekend yet so how did we get here well that's what we're all here for right [Music] i know these title cards are passe but i'm jet lagged to the girls and i can't think of anything better so bear with me please anyways for those of you unfamiliar with this babyface assassin i'll give you the skinny this dude here oscar piastre is an australian racing driver from australia it's time to learn geography from the end of 2016 to 2021 he ran roughshod over his competitors in junior formula please revert to my original video for a more in-depth analysis of that time because i will not be doing it again but to cut to the chase he was vice champion in british f4 in 2017 was formula renault euro cup champion in 2019 fia formula 3 champion in 2020 and the fia formula 2 champion in 2021 which in and of itself makes him a winner twice given how formula 2 cards are unreliable cakes with uneven car performance and issues that won't be fixed provided this gob continues to make coin from it all i'll get back on track shall i with three of the most important junior formula championships won in succession anyone who ever doubted this could was now firmly put in their place by the end of 2021 i was firmly put in my place it was quite obvious that this dude had done what needed to be done to deserve a shot at the big time so now it's time to talk about that big time and for that we need to rewind a couple of years in 2020 piastre was signed up to the renault sport academy a little bit odd considering their team is somewhat allergic to promoting the juniors he was nonetheless given some opportunities to drive formula 1 machinery and would remain with the team in 2021 when they rebranded themselves to alpen now that renault had decided to take internal combustion of their menu after demolishing the formula 2 field in 2021 he was given a shot in the young drivers f1 test in abu dhabi and because both alpine toilets were occupied for 2022 he was named as the reserve driver for alpine heading into the 2022 season throughout 2022 alping would take an older generation card to tracks that mr pastry had either not been to or otherwise needed to mix your mileage on and it did appear that in this time they were shaping them as their wave of the future all or nothing prodigy and that much like john hammond they would spare no expense but much like john hammond the whole damn scenario would be tipped on its head thanks in part to a portly man who thought he could play capitalism our lives are in your hands and you have butterfingers i'm totally unappreciated in my time although the real start of this whole fiasco came about when by the spanish grand prix maclaren's lando norris was struggling with tonsillitis throughout the course of the weekend needless to say tonsillitis is not a hobby i'd recommend taking up and their workouts regarding norris heading into the monaco grand prix weekend will he race will he not and if not who's gonna replace him stoffel vandoorne nick to freeze will the lad stevens david croft the ghost of tazio nouvellari well alpine decided that it would be a nice display of courtesy to landon piastre should lando still be crook in time for the grand prix you know and it would give pastry some time in the car too to blood him and you know get him ready for his time at alpine it did seem innocent enough back then but it was also around this time that zac brown wasn't so much signing talent as he was hoarding talent eventually one of these poor souls that signed up for them would only be able to drive the factory van and about the time the contract comes into effect would only be able to drive it to the dole office once mclaren goes belly up from spending too much freaking money on drivers yeah anyway it did legitimately seem though that alpine had a plan in place for piastry although the issue came down to the fact that alpine already had two drivers whether fernando alonso or esteban ocon would get the boots and lieu of piastre was anyone's guess but alpine knew what they wanted to do with piastre they had a road map there but then this happened i hereby announce my retirement from formula one by the end of the 2022 season this was a big deal because i mean apart from the obvious a four-time world champion retiring from the sport that left a seat vacant at aston martin some thought it might go to pierre gasly maybe to nick to freeze no it went to fernando alonso it was totally out of the blue and completely left alpine with their pants down although what it did mean was that alpine had a vacancy in their outfit it did seem set in stone that mr pastry was finally gonna get a shot at the big time parley friggin luya on august 1st this would be confirmed alpine putting out a press release that oscar piastre would be driving for the alpine formula one team from 2023 onwards it was just for he had deserved the shot he was now to get it praise be that oscar piastre was now a formula one driver but then perhaps the most unexpected thing in the whole history of history happened [Music] he basically told them in front of the whole world that nah i don't want your damn seat it seems completely hair brained to reject a formula one seat and to do so so publicly to not so much burn a bridge but to blow the damn thing up this made news headlines around the world because i mean just how what the hell was this guy's plan was he looking to go to another team i mean who would take him there's not too many vacancies out there and he's only ever been with alpine and there's not too many better ones out there than alpine at least not ones that need drivers yeah sure he's got that thing with mclaren as a reserve driver but they've already secured their drivers even if they've been trying to get rid of daniel ricardo oh yeah this was about where people were starting to connect the dots you see while daniel ricardo is often lauded as one of the better drivers on the grid aside from his win in the 2021 italian grand prix he hadn't exactly been hitting his weights in his two years at mclaren whether it be down to him or the team the reality was that zach brown was looking for a way to not pay the 17 million a year contract and basically looking for a way to kick him to the curb the use of language in the media in the monaco grand prix time indicated that they were looking for a new driver now mclaren was signing an array of drivers to their program and they were also giving tests to the likes of colton herter now this hoarding of talent did land them in the spotlight over an indy car when they signed defending champion alex pallow to their team only for him to also be signed by chip ganassi racing and caused a major uproar with two entities claiming to own the same driver for 2023 head back over to europe and the same damn thing is occurring because not too long after piastre sent out that tweet it was being widely rumored that he was instead going to replace daniel ricardo and mclaren for 2023 but of course that made no sense considering that ricardo was still under contract until the end of 2023 and that he sent this out via his instagram stories stating that he was committed to the team and that through hell or high water he would try and work out the issues that were at play although that does sound like something you would say to your kids after getting off the phone with your divorce lawyers what few of us knew at that time was that in the days before ricardo sent that out mclaren and piastre were definitely talking to one another and so with this deal being apparently a done thing there was just a small matter of telling alpine that he wasn't gonna be with them come next year and he did tell them several times in fact although shortly after the lord of the eyebrows jumped shipped to team stroll omar saffnow would tell piastry that the seat was his conveniently whilst he was working in the alpine simulator in front of a few people that were none otherwise set to the whole deal oscar realizing the situation at hand knew what he had to do in that moment after that ridiculously awkward scenario he pulled off mara's side lent him a copy of the oxford dictionary and guided him toward the word no he reminded him of the fact that several times beforehand that he would not be racing for them even if they offered him a seat in the main game a free alpine road car a stake in the reno group brand and a timeshare in a maldives apartment that is about five years away from being underwater but why after being touted as the future of alpine and helping dumping so much money into pastry why would he abandon ship and head for the refuge of mclaren well at the time it was expected that alonso and okon would remain at alpine and two years at a williams team whose glory days were well behind them a cece mclaren looks a lot better to the eye of the average earthling even if mclaren's bitter days are behind them as well and certainly piastre as well as his manager former f1 driver world endurance champion and hugh jackman cousy mark webber thought so too of course none of this was official yet only that oscar had very publicly declared that he would not race for lp next year and atma as well as the rest of the alpine hierarchy cracked the about it they said they expected more loyalty from oscar saying that he should have it with that team that has taken him to the world championship and above all but during the last year has put him in a formula one car so that he would be ready so that he would know the circuits i expected more loyalty from oscar than he's showing i started in 1999 and formula one and i've never seen anything like this it's not about formula one it's about integrity as a human being jesus omar you you speak as if this guy stood you up outside an interstate wendy's or something well either way you'll look at it the matter will be put before the fia's contract recognition board to determine if pastry was an alpine ace or a mclaren man eventually after much deliberation it was determined that he was a mcclary man ruling against alpine who had in one fell swoop lost both fernando alonso and oscar piastre ouch and an even bigger yacht was to come when the findings of the board became public and it was revealed that alpine had massively dropped the ball how did they drop said ball well in an extremely basic sense and even this wouldn't really do it justice alpine shipped off a term sheet in november 2021 which they believed was a valid contract between both parties for the purposes of a race role from 2023 onwards although this was merely the intended starting point for negotiations they would start handing out contracts within 10 working days of the 15th of november well guess what 15th of november came and went and nothing meanwhile alpine's lead of legal affairs was given the workload of a canadian rugby coach and told mark webber that by the time the new alpine f1 car was launched at the start of 2022 that may be then that she could have a look at this whole pastry contract deal but by the time march rolled around still nothing by this time webber was getting pissed as of course with the piastries because clearly alpine were not offering up an answer by march 4th alpine sent oscar a draft it was a reserved driver role for 2022 the race roll that wasn't in there there was no extension option for 2023 for a potential full-time ride on march 15th piyashiri did receive a contract through his lawyers for a reserve driver role for 2022. melissa stated that this was an emergency measure with the season starting just four days later and no reserve driver agreement in place without a contract in place the ashrae could not be granted a super license for his reserve driver role which mercer was aware of so with no other option she was forced into treating the term sheep of november 2021 as a binding contract adding the words legally binding heads of terms to the document this phrase was not present on the original document sent to piastre the previous year holy sh by may 19th alpine had sent piastre a document it was a proposal a road map for his first few years in formula one it would involve two years at williams before finally joining alping in 2025. this wasn't acceptable and eventually both weber and piastre came to the conclusion that they were gonna look elsewhere mclaren were keen signed a preliminary deal on the 3rd of june before signing a deal for 2023 on the 4th of july which would come into effect the moment piastre became a free agent on the 1st of january 2023 and because lp never had anything signed with piastre beyond the end of 2022 they not only lost that crb appeal but were also forced to pay the legal costs of every party involved which basically amounted to over half a million euros in legal fees there's dropping the ball and then there's that and it all came about because alpine essentially pissed around and left piastre out in the cold leaving him frustrated and looking for other options i mean could you blame him and in the end it's kind of funny seb's retirement and alonso's hard on for better career moves had no bearing on where piastre was going to go for 2023 but it did give us this damn soap opera and with that on september 2nd oscar piastre was officially announced at mclaren for the 2023 season so i guess that video were a big for the powers that be to give him a ride kind of came to fruition right well i guess not totally in the way that i thought it was but he is at least a mclaren so all's well that ends well right well not so fast on that one yes mclaren have had some great success with rookies so lewis hamilton and landon norris they come to mind but they also oversaw the debuts of jan magnusson michael andretti and stoffel vanthorne how did their formula on careers go drivers that came in with the legend of john henry's hammer and left on a whimper they almost killed the careers of kevin magnussen and sergio perez and then you have daniel ricardo the man who pastry b replacing no one saw his downfall coming but it happened kind of have to feel bad for the dude but as the honey badger so admitted it's the nature of the beast that is the way with formula one what am i trying to prove here other than being less fun than holiday in pyongyang it's that nothing is guaranteed in the sport especially with mclaren there's something else too the revelations of what happened definitely doesn't paint piastry as the bad guy but people will think twice before signing this guy in the future why because the paddock talks and because it's human nature it's sad but true but hey the important question how will piastre do in his time there who knows maybe he'll do good and maybe he'll drown all i'll say is welcome to the big time pastry [Music] you

Channel: Josh Revell

Views: 341,711

Keywords: f1, formula 1, f1 2022, piastri, oscar piastri, alpine, alpine f1, mclaren, mclaren f1, piastri f1, piastri alpine, piastri mclaren

Id: UX2kvUdMBLg

Length: 14min 0sec (840 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 13 2022