Two Formula 1 racing teams are fighting over a young driver. Even the arbitral tribunal has to clarify the case of Oscar Piastri. After it was clear that the Australian would drive for McLaren in the future, he spoke up. He speaks of a "disturbing episode".
Future McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has described the Formula 1 farce with Alpine as "confusing and annoying". The Australian had been announced in a summer farce by the French racing team as a regular driver for next year. Piastri immediately contradicted this statement because he had long since had an agreement with McLaren.
"The fact that this was incorrectly announced was something that my management and I had to correct, and there were also possible legal consequences if we hadn't denied the announcement," explained Piastri on the Formula 1 website. Alpine was surprised by Fernando Alonso's announcement that he would replace Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin next season. They then announced Piastri as the new regular driver, although the 21-year-old and his management Alpine had said twice that they would not drive for them in 2023.
Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer informed Piastri about the announcement while the young racer was sitting in the simulator. Piastri "smiled and was grateful," said Szafnauer. "It was a bizarre and frankly disturbing episode. It happened publicly in front of some team members who were unaware of the situation and I didn't want to make a scene in front of them. Once we were alone, I explained to Otmar our position and what had been told to him several times before," explained Piastri.
Piastri, successive Formula 3 and Formula 2 champion, is curiously a reserve driver for both Alpine and McLaren this season. The arbitration board for contractual disputes in motorsport had to clarify his dispute. His contract with McLaren from 2023 was declared legal on Friday.
