On Monday, the Formula 1 racing team Alpine lost its top driver Fernando Alonso to Aston Martin, who replaced the outgoing Sebastian Vettel there. The successor to the French, on the other hand, is becoming a farce. Young hope Oscar Piastri was presented on Tuesday. The problem: The 21-year-old Australian doesn’t want to know anything about it.
“I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year,” the Australian wrote on social media. Shortly before, the team had announced that it would promote him from reserve driver to regular driver next season. Piastri will then start alongside Frenchman Esteban Ocon, it said. “That’s wrong,” Piastri countered. The message, sent out in the middle of the Australian night, had not been agreed with him, he assured. Piastri is said to be in talks with McLaren instead and could replace his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo there.
Piastri is considered a promising talent. Two years ago he won the title in the junior class Formula 3, in the previous season he was Formula 2 champion. Earlier this season, he had been hired as Alpine’s reserve rider.
Alpine wants to remain firm: “We believe that our message is legally correct, but we have nothing more to say about it,” the BBC quoted a spokesman for the racing team as saying yesterday. The team was apparently surprised on Monday by the news that the Spaniard Alonso would switch to the rival for the new season. Alpine had actually wanted to extend the expiring contract with Alonso, reservist Piastri was supposed to do an apprenticeship with Williams.
The four-time world champion Vettel, on the other hand, should be tied to Formula 1 even after the end of his career. “The doors are open for him,” says managing director Stefano Domenicali.
Source: Nachrichten
