Oscar Piastri, Alpine Formula 1 reserve driver, took his discontent with the team on twitter. He responded in an infamous tweet to Alpine’s announcement that he would be driving for them in 2023.
Fernando Alonso announced his switch from Alpine to Aston Martin replacing Sebastian Vettel. The German driver had announced his retirement from the sport. Alpine was quick to fill the Alonso’s shoes with Piastri next season.
The announcement is rejected by the driver, who had already been signed by McLaren. The parent team announced him as their driver despite the knowledge of the contract. He also intended to run for the Woking outfit.
In response to the team’s announcement and intentions, he made clear of his intentions. He didn’t shy of declining Alpine offer and would love to race for McLaren. He concluded his comments with “this is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year”.
Alpine had invested in Piastri through his junior programme. Piastri comments were criticized especially by the teams that runt he junior programmes.
Wolff on Piastri
“I have bigger problems than enjoy to sit on the balcony like in The Muppet Show to watch the show pan out in front of my eyes,” Wolff answered Autosport.
“I think it’s important that junior programmes are being respected. Some of the kids should be wary on Twitter what they said about multinational organisations. But I have no insight into the contracts.
“I believe in karma, I believe in integrity. But I’m not here to judge because as I said, I don’t know the legal situation.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing team principal, also stressed the importance of loyalty to the team. He has seen dozens of drivers pass through such programmes at the Red Bull.
“I don’t fully understand it, because contractually, that should just never happen,” he told Sky F1.
“I think if Renault and Alpine have invested into his junior career. It’s because you invest in youth because you’re investing in it for the future. And there has to be an element of loyalty within that.
“So I don’t understand obviously contractually what’s going on there. But for him to be even in a position to think that he doesn’t have to drive for Alpine next year, obviously shows there’s something not right.
“Hopefully it’ll get sorted. He’s another great young talent. He drove for the Arden team in Formula 4, Formula Renault, so I know him pretty well.
“He’s a great talent that should be on the grid. Probably there’s been a bit more mess around his debut than there should be.”
