Red Bull team Principal Christian Horner reveals he saw potential in Oscar Piastri in 2017 and regrets not signing him.
Oscar Piastri will fall under the eyes of Millions of fans worldwide when he hit the track in 2023. The Aussie however had built quite a reputation for himself early on in the racing world.
Piastri won the 2020 F3 Championship and the 2021 F2 Championship in successive years. He became only the 5th driver to achieve this feat after Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Charles Leclerc and George Russell.
Piastri was signed by Alpine’s Driver Academy in 2020 ahead of his F3 campaign. The team won his signature and developed him with the potential to race in F1 by 2022.
However, another F1 team had set their sights on the Aussie. Red Bull team Principal Christian Horner recently revealed that he had thought about signing Piastri all the way back in 2017.
Piastri raced in the 2017 Britsh Formula 4 Championship with team Arden. Arden was founded and operated by Christian and his father Garry Horner.
They have previously worked with Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz, Jr., and Dan Ticktum among others. And Horner was planning on signing Piastri but then it did not work out.
I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) August 2, 2022
Horner said, “Oscar drove for the Arden team in Formula 4 and Formula Renault. And he was obviously a significant talent. There was an opportunity for Red Bull to look at him at the time, and we didn’t take up that option, which is something that I regret.”
He adds, “But what he went on to achieve is phenomenal, in Formula 3 and Formula 2.” One can only imagine Piastri in a Red Bull suit now. Maybe he could have even given Max Verstappen a fight!
Also Read: 21-year old Oscar Piastri slams Alpine for their behavior leading up to his McLaren switch
Oscar Piastri’s situation was Alpine’s fault says Horner
Oscar Piastri will finally be racing for McLaren in the 2023 F1 season. After a long drawn-out battle Alpine lost the verdict by the Contract Recognition Board regarding the future of the 21-year-old.
Alpine had stated the Aussie will drive in place of Fernando Alonso in 2023. But Piastri rejected it saying he had no such agreement with the team.
Alpine was earlier interested in loaning Piastri to Williams but that did not work out. And when McLaren assured the driver a seat in the upcoming season, he signed the dotted line with the British team.
The low down on @AlpineF1Team Piastri costs order: pic.twitter.com/o5ZYrruDd1
— Fritz-Dieter Rencken (@RacingLines) September 2, 2022
Alpinelost is the case and a talented driver. They have a vacant seat in their driver line-up and have to pay $420,000 to McLaren and Oscar Piastri after losing the CRB trial.
Christian Horner did not want to comment on the whole fiasco. But he said this was Alpine’s lacking and claimed such a situation would have never happened at Red Bull.
Horner said, “If Piastri had been a driver here, there is no way that he wouldn’t have been under lock and key for a period of time.
As I say, I wasn’t a party, it’s difficult to judge what was promised or reneged on or so on. But certainly, it was unexpected, probably from several areas.”
Horner says Piastri will have huge expectations on him when he races next season. And he will be judged against a very formidable Lando Norris, which will not be an easy task for the rookie.
Also Read: McLaren boss calls $430 Million team boss ‘silly’ after Oscar Piastri saga
