Otmar Szafnauer has blamed “untrustworthy” individuals within Alpine’s F1 team over the contract ordeal which saw Oscar Piastri go to McLaren.
“We absolutely did everything that was meant to be done by that contract that was never signed.
“In English law, had we taken it to an English court, maybe we would have won.
“You know, that’s unjust enrichment. ‘You know, you didn’t sign the contract, but you took all this and you’re not delivering what you’re supposed to deliver.”
Pretty fucking rich. Piastri didn’t make Alpine not sign. And if they actually had their shit together they could have chosen not to give him the benefits without an unsigned contact, but instead they acted like it was signed and expected to still get the benefits?
How the fuck do they think they could have won the case? Like, if I offered a contact to Alpine that I would shit in front of their office and they would let me drive a season in F1, and then they didn’t sign, could I bring them to court after I shat on the sidewalk and demand they let me drive? Bonkers.
Othmar is talking about implied acceptance of a contract.
Implied acceptance is when a person’s actions indicate that they agree to the terms of an offer, even if they don’t explicitly say so. This creates a binding contract between the parties involved.
Basically, if the contract says that I will have to give you support and in turn you will be bound to my academy, and then I give you that support, I have indicated that I agree to the terms of that contract. Even if my legal department messes up signing it.
Of course, Alpine never tested whether that line would hold in court, and therefore it’s eeh.
Pretty fucking rich. Piastri didn’t make Alpine not sign. And if they actually had their shit together they could have chosen not to give him the benefits without an unsigned contact, but instead they acted like it was signed and expected to still get the benefits?
How the fuck do they think they could have won the case? Like, if I offered a contact to Alpine that I would shit in front of their office and they would let me drive a season in F1, and then they didn’t sign, could I bring them to court after I shat on the sidewalk and demand they let me drive? Bonkers.
It sounds more like he’s bitter that they didn’t get Oscar, and the fallout from that was almost certainly factored into his job loss.
Edited to fix markup