The Michael Schumacher drama which is now affecting Daniel Ricciardo
Not many F1 fans know that the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board🐼 (CRB) was set up after Michael Schumacher signed for Benetton in 1991 despite ha🃏ving a contract with Jordan - the team he made his grand prix debut with.
Those events are having an impact on the futures of Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastℱri.
Alpine and McLaren are involved in a battle over Piastri’s services for next year, wit♛h both teams thinking the▨y have a legal contract to have him in the car for next year.
It all started when Sebastian Vettel anno𒐪unced his shock retirement from F1 ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Shortly after the race at the Hungaroring, Fernando Alonso announced his surprise switch to Aston Martin, paving the way for Piastri to be the two-ꦛtime champion’s replacement.
However, in comical fashion, once Alpine announced Piastri, the Australian hours later, announced that he would not be driving for the team, hinting t⛄hat he would be j🐲oining another team.
Speculation was rife but it soo🏅n transpired that Piastri would be McLaren’s preferred replacement for Ricciardo, whose underperformance has made t🍨he Woking-outfit want to cut ties one-year early.
As a result of all this drama, Alpine have been in contact with the CRB, while team boss Otmar Szafnauer has even threatened to go t🙈o High Court over it.
How this saga w🐷ill play out is unclear and ultimately it will come down to the CRB’s verdict.
Looking🏅 back to 1991, 𒀰Schumacher starred on his F1 debut with Jordan, qualifying an impressive seventh.
His race was cut short despite running in fifth due to a clutch failure but the young German quickly made a name ♎for himself.
As a result, Benetton was interested in si🔜gning him for 1992, although that was so𒈔on fast-tracked to the next race at Monza.
B✱enetton - headed by Flavio Briatore - were prepared to pay off current driver Roberto Moreno.
Benetton were able to sign Schumacher but had more trouble꧃ in o🍸usting Moreno.
Due to how th♌e contract was 𝔍written by Jordan, it didn’t hold up in court, thus losing F1’s latest hot prospect.
For Benetton, Moreno had a valid contract and accepted a pay off of 𓃲a𓂃round $500,000.
Schumacher would then make🅘 his debut for Benetton at Monza after impressing the 🐷team in a prior test, while Moreno drove for Jordan.
The drama of 1991 ultimately saw the intro𝄹duction of the CRB which is having ♉an impact in 2022.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the ⛎heartbeat of ou💞r unbiased reporting.
