Piastri is free to drive for McLaren in the post-season test
Tuesday, 15 November 2022
The Australian will start his F1® career.
Oscar Piastri is free to drive for McLaren after the team reached an agreement with Alpine to allow the Australian to drive at the Yas Marina test next week.
“I can confirm that in the end, we reached a settlement agreement with all parties involved, which enabled us to put Oscar in an old car last week in Paul Ricard and do a private test,” said McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl in Sao Paulo.
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“[It] will enable us to officially start working with Oscar on Monday after the last race in Abu Dhabi, which enables us then as well to put him in the current car at the Young Driver Test, which is something we’re very much looking forward to – it’s great for us and for Oscar.”
Piastri was in the headlines during the silly season after a shock move by Fernando Alonso to Aston Martin kicked off the driver trades.
Although Piastri had been a member of the Alpine academy, McLaren had signed a valid contract with McLaren mid-way through the season after it appeared there would be no seat for him at Alpine for the 2023 season.
Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer said: “The season’s nearly at the end. It was time to come to an agreement, and we did. We’re happy that Oscar can start his McLaren career after the last race in Abu Dhabi and do the test.”
At the discretion of Alpine, Piastri was able to test in an old McLaren last week.
