Paddock insiders say Piastri’s ease of leaving Alpine after the team invested heavily to get him promoted will stop people from spending money in the future.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff pointed out at Spa that “respect for junior projects is important”, while RBR’s Christian Horner expressed a similar sentiment, saying “there must be loyalty Elements.”
However, Brown insisted that it was just a case of Alpine dropping the ball in terms of contract and making Piastri “vulnerable”, so it wouldn’t change the overall picture.
“No, I don’t think it’s going to change anything,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com if junior programs would be affected. “I just think if you have drivers and you’re stable, you need to have a contract with them.
“Because as we know it’s very competitive and all the teams are looking around for them The best talent that can do it, if you don’t have a contract then you’re vulnerable. “
Zach Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing Team
Photo: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl hinted that some critics of Piastri and his manager Mark Webber did not understand the whole Story.
“I mean, also from my point of view, I read these comments to some people who I also don’t know about what actually happened.
“I think some of these comments are therefore inappropriate and unfair as well. Yeah, just disrespecting what’s going on.
“If I were just here Seeing myself in this situation, if I only know what’s going on from one side, I’ll try to avoid commenting on it. I think it’s also important to protect the Oscars. “
Brown said McLaren’s own test plans with IndyCar drivers Pato Oward and Colton Hertha were not affected by the signing of Piastrie.
“They’ve been looking at their TPC testing program,” he said. “Certainly, we need to have a rookie or rookies in free practice this year and for the foreseeable future, and you see The driver is infected with the new crown virus or injured.
“So I think the responsible thing as a racing team is to always have two main drivers and we all have reserve drivers and then you never know what’s going to happen and what might create What a chance.”
Brown confirmed that the team would be delighted if Herta could take the AlphaTauri’s chance, if the deal goes through and the American gets a super licence from the FIA.
“I don’t think we ever want to stop drivers. Racers want to drive and I think it’s admirable for someone like Oscar to sit for a year. We’ve seen Esteban [Ocon] absent. One year. But we want to encourage racers to race.”
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