Oscar Piastri will join McLaren on a two-year deal after the Contract Recognition Board ruled in the Woking-based team’s favour on Friday.
The start of the summer saw the Formula 1 driver market blown open by Fernando Alonso announcing his move from Alpine to Aston Martin in 2023.
Alpine then announced Piastri as the Spaniard’s replacement for next season only for the Australian to deny he had signed for the French brand.
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That was because the reigning F2 champion had agreed to join McLaren to replace Daniel Ricciardo, with the former Red Bull and Renault driver agreeing to end his contract a year early last week
Alpine though insisted that Piastri had a legal contract in place to race for them in 2023, resulting in the intervention by the CRB.
However, in their ruling, the tribunal “issued a unanimous decision that the only contract to be recognised by the board is the contract between McLaren Racing Limited and Mr Piastri dated 4th July 2022.”
That then led to McLaren officially confirming Oscar alongside Lando Norris for next year.
“Oscar is one of the up-and-coming talents coming through the feeder series into F1 and we are delighted to see him join the team for 2023,” CEO Zak Brown said.
“Winning both F3 and F2 in successive rookie seasons is a real achievement and testament to his talent in single-seater racing.
“In Lando and Oscar, we have a young, exciting F1 line-up with a huge amount of potential, standing us in good stead to achieve our future ambitions.
“Oscar is an exciting addition to the McLaren family, and we look forward to seeing him grow with our F1 team.”
Piastri himself added: “I’m extremely excited to be making my F1 debut with such a prestigious team as McLaren and I’m very grateful for the opportunity that’s been offered to me.
“The team has a long tradition of giving young talent a chance, and I’m looking forward to working hard alongside Lando to push the team towards the front of the grid.
“I’m focused on preparing for my F1 debut in 2023 and starting my F1 career in papaya.”
In response to the CRB decision, Alpine put out a statement saying they “consider the matter closed on our side” and will “announce our full 2023 driver line-up in due course”.
The team has been linked to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, though had potentially hoped to use compensation from Piastri and McLaren to buy out the Frenchman’s contract at Red Bull.
