Oscar Piastri, the driver at the heart of the tug-of-war between McLaren and Alpine over his services in 2023, says he chose to leave Alpine after losing faith in the team, adding that the way he He was dealt with Team boss Otmar Szafnauer was “bizarre and nasty”.
Piastri will race for McLaren next year After the FIA’s contract recognition board (CRB) ruled McLaren was the only team with a valid contract with the Australian next year.
The reigning Formula 2 champion signed with McLaren on 4 July this year and said he did so after Alpine, which has funded a large part of his career, failed to deliver specific offer to him about driving F1 next year. .
Alpine originally planned to book Piastri at Williams in 2023 with the belief that Fernando Alonso would remain part of the team. But when Alonso signed on August 1 to move to Aston Martin next year, Alpine announced Piastri as driver for the firm for 2023 even though the McLaren contract was already in effect.
“The CRB ruling has confirmed that I have no contract for the 2023 season [with Alpine]”, Piastri told Formula1.com.” I am free to choose my destiny – and I feel McLaren is a great opportunity. They are very outspoken and very interested and enthusiastic to get me. To be honest, there is no clarity around my future at the Alpine team.
“They openly said they wanted to continue with Fernando for at least another year or two. I respect that. But after spending a year, my hopes are firmly placed on an Alpine chair and the lack of it. obviously, similar to Fernando, a bit of a strange feeling in the negotiations, that feeling was not the right decision for me [to stay around].
“The lack of clarity about my future and ultimately a breakdown of confidence, I find McLaren’s very attractive offer and the positive dealings with them so far are all reasons at Why do I feel McLaren is where I can be best for the future.”
Alpine announced Piastri as driver for 2023 on 2 August as the Australians were working at their factory on the driving simulator in the ring. Captain Otmar Szafnauer said last week that when announcing the news to Piastri, the F2 champion just smiled and said “thank you”.
In an interview with Formula1.com, Piastri said his reaction was not intended to be misleading but was the result of being put in an awkward situation.
“It was a strange and really sad episode,” he said. “It was done publicly in front of some team members who were ignorant of the situation and I didn’t want to cause a spectacle in front of them.
“When we were alone, I told Otmar where we were and what he had been told many times before. I was surprised to make that announcement.”
Szafnauer offered a slightly different version of events when asked about Piastri’s comments during Saturday’s press conference.
“Oscar was in the sim, I went and told him about the release and congratulated him, he smiled and said ‘thank you’,” Szafnauer said. “Myself, the simulator technician, happened to be in the same room – it was quite a large room – and there were three of us in that room. It was not a group of people, nothing strange. strange, and he smiled and said ‘thank you’.”
Szafnauer also claimed that he was not informed of Piastri’s talks with McLaren until the deal was signed.
“It was much later than July 4th,” he said. “Up to that point, it’s really just conjecture and we know exactly what Oscar has signed us, and we’re going after that.
“That was the reason to pursue it until we got a written notice saying he couldn’t drive you and then we started investigating it through the CRB.”
Shortly after Alpine announced him as a driver on August 2, Piastri released a statement via Twitter that Alpine’s announcement was “false” and that he would “not be driving for Alpine next year”. Piastri said he had no choice but to issue a clear statement about his position.
“It was the biggest moment of my career and probably my life until now,” he said. “To have that false notice is something that my management and I feel we must correct and also have potential legal implications if we don’t deny the notice.
“It’s not intended to indicate or in any way other than fact. The last line is a pretty strong line, but given the CRB’s verdict, it shows it’s all a fact.”
