Soap opera off-track overshadows start to Dutch GP weekend as Oscar Piastri saga concludes

While the weekend action began out on track in Zandvoort, Formula One’s most enthralling summer soap opera reached its conclusion with the news that Oscar Piastri has signed for McLaren.

The 2021 Formula Two champion has for the past month been in the middle of a squabbling match between McLaren and Alpine, with the latter’s public announcement that test driver Piastri would race for them next year immediately contradicted by the Australian himself on social media.

Finally though, we have our result. Piastri will race for McLaren, signing a “multi-year contract” as Lando Norris’s teammate.

“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,” Piastri said in a press release, publicised this time with his consent.

While McLaren will be relieved their contract with Piastri – signed after the British Grand Prix on 4 July – was seen as valid by the F1’s Contract Recognition Board, for Alpine’s management it is very much back to the drawing board.

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The French team, currently in a battle with McLaren for fourth place in this year’s constructors’ championship, have lost two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and one of motorsport’s hottest properties from their clutches in little over a month.

Yet while the “silly season’s” main event has ended, there is still the matter of who Alpine turn to now, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly the favourite to be poached to drive alongside Esteban Ocon in a potential all-French line-up. And the net result of that is: what does that mean for Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 future after the popular Aussie was dropped by McLaren and with a return to the Renault family unlikely?

What’s more, Ricciardo publicly stated his commitment to McLaren nine days after Piastri signed a deal with the team; so, did McLaren not inform Ricciardo immediately? There’s plenty more beneath the surface there.

A conversation for another day, perhaps. On-track on Friday, first practice at the Dutch Grand Prix saw a rare Mercedes one-two with George Russell leading the way, two-tenths quicker than Lewis Hamilton, in a session that saw runaway championship leader Max Verstappen complete only seven laps before a gearbox issue forced his rapid RB18 to a halt in front of an adoring home crowd.

A few hours later, with the Piastri news the hot topic in the paddock, Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two as the sun set on the North Sea coast, with Hamilton third, Russell fifth and Verstappen down in eighth. Not, therefore, the Red Bull procession hotly anticipated in front of the Orange Army so far, with Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez only seventh and 12th in his two practice sessions.

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“We had such little grip on the tyre,” Verstappen said. “We went into FP2 a session behind – it wasn’t great today but we have tonight to look into things. While driving I was not surprised to see the lap time difference [to Ferrari in FP2].”

Hamilton, meanwhile, was much more satisfied as he looks to bounce back following his first-lap retirement last week in Belgium, saying: “A lot better than last week. It’s been a decent start to the weekend, we’ve landed in a much sweeter spot to the car. We’re not that far behind, the car doesn’t feel bad. There’s probably not a huge amount more performance-wise but we’ll keep pushing.”

Early indications, therefore, indicate that the margins will be tighter this weekend than Verstappen’s comfortable progression from P14 to P1 at Spa last week, with the third-shortest circuit on the calendar in Zandvoort offering hope to Red Bull’s rivals for the top spots.

Unfortunately for Ferrari, Mercedes et al, overtaking Verstappen’s 93-point lead with eight races to go will take some collapse from the Flying Dutchman – a collapse that has shown no sign of being forthcoming.