Driver movements, signings, and who
goes where in Formula 1 has always been one of the most intriguing elements of
the sport. In this arena though contracts have rarely been worth more than
paper that it’s printed on. They’ve been amended, broken, heck, even cancelled
based on the wants and needs of many an F1 team’s desires.
One of the most famous, or infamous,
contract debacles involve seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
After a stellar debut weekend at the 1991 Belgian grand prix for Jordan.
Schumacher stunned in last minute appearance for Jordan and was primed to enter
F1 as a full-time driver in 1992. But in whose car, he would race would become
a serious bone of contention. While Eddie Jordan (owner of the Jordan team) was
convinced that Schumacher would race for him the following season, then
Benneton team boss Flavio Briatore snatched the young German from under
Jordan’s nose despite there, allegedly, being some type of agreement in place.
The rest as they say is history.
More recently, Oscar Piastri was at
the center of a contract dispute between Alpine and McLaren. The young Aussie
had a relationship with Alpine, but the team jumped the gun when they announced
Piastri as a race driver for the 2023 season. In a new notorious tweet Piastri
took to social media to deny that he would be driving for the French team.
Instead, Piastri ended up at McLaren and after a fine rookie season he’ll be
relieved not to have ended up in a decidedly underperforming Alpine.
Fast forward to 2024 and the
contract negotiations between Ferrari and Carlos Sainz seem to be taking an
awfully long time to resolve. At the moment, with most top drivers signed up
elsewhere, retaining Sainz seems like a no brainer for Ferrari. But it’s
apparently the finer details that are taking some time to hash out. While Sainz
is looking for a longer-term deal, Ferrari are eager to include an objectives
clause in the contract renewal. This would allow the team more room to maneuver
should they wish to fire him.
Furthermore, Ferrari, most likely, have
designs on obtaining the services of Lando Norris, whose deal with McLaren runs
until the end of 2025. The prospect of Norris on the market is likely why
Ferrari do not want to give Carlos Sainz a contract that exceed beyond the end
of the 2025 season.
