McLaren sign Oscar Piastri for 2023 after legal battle with Alpine

McLaren have announced that Oscar Piastri will race for them in 2023 after the conclusion of the high-profile legal battle with Alpine.

The Formula 2 champion has signed a multi-year deal with the Woking-based team and will race alongside British star Lando Norris from the start of next season.

He replaces fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo who announced that he would be leaving McLaren last week after agreeing to terminate his contract early.

Piastri’s future has been the subject of one of the wildest transfer sagas Formula 1 has ever seen, after the 21-year-old, who came through the Alpine academy and is currently serving as their reserve driver, was announced as a driver for the French team for 2023 following Fernando Alonso’s move to Aston Martin.

However, just hours after that news broke, Piastri took to social media to claim that he had not signed with Alpine and that he would not be racing for them, prompting speculation that he had signed a contract with McLaren instead.

The matter was taken to court, with the Contract Recognition Board meeting on Monday to determine which team has a valid contract for the driver, with their verdict delivered on Friday.

It read: ‘The only Contract to be recognised by is the Contract between McLaren Racing Limited and Mr Piastri dated 4 July 2022. Mr Piastri is entitled to drive for McLaren Racing for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.’

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>It’s official! ð#F1 #OP81 @mclaren pic.twitter.com/CFY3Z1ddrQ

And within just minutes of that, McLaren duly confirmed Piastri to their driver line-up, with team CEO Zak Brown saying: ‘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.

‘Winnin