Oscar Piastri caused a lot of chaos in the 2022 driver market. The Aussie rookie turned down his chance to step up to a race seat at Alpine. Instead, he had already signed a contract with McLaren. As a result of Piastri’s decision, the two top midfield rivals indulged in a legal battle. Obviously, any individual would have been tense in a situation like this, but if Oscar Piastri was to be believed, he stayed calm and instead played chess!
On the Fast and Curious podcast, the 22-year-old revealed that, amid the Alpine-McLaren controversy, he went to play chess with his neighbor. He said, “We went and played chess while social media exploded.” All of it began when Sebastian Vettel declared his retirement, leading Fernando Alonso to leave Alpine to take over the seat at Aston Martin.
Following Alonso’s announcement, Alpine released a statement saying that reserve driver Piastri will be racing for them in 2023. However, as soon as the French team made this announcement, Oscar Piastri came up with a shocker.
Taking to social media the Aussie wrote that Alpine had made this announcement without his consent. In addition, he mentioned that in 2023 he will no longer be driving for them.
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
After a few days, the Woking team announced that Piastri would be driving for them. This was done in response to Daniel Ricciardo’s termination by McLaren. Nevertheless, the betrayal from Piastri had made the Enstone outfit bitter, which made them reluctant to accept McLaren’s announcement.
Subsequently, Alpine got ready for a battle that would ultimately bring the issue to court and involve the Contract Recognition Board. On September 2, the CRB declared that Piastri‘s McLaren contract was legitimate and that he would drive for the papaya outfit.
What happened after Oscar Piastri’s controversial switch to McLaren?
After Oscar Piastri made the infamous switch, there were whispers of links between Alonso’s manager Flavio Briatore, and Piastri’s manager Mark Webber. However, Fernando Alonso denied any such involvement of his manager and claimed that what’s happening with Oscar ‘is completely not his thing. ‘
Although Alonso got away with these statements, Daniel Ricciardo was the one who was most impacted by the situation —both negatively and positively. On the downside, Piastri’s arrival provided made Ricciardo lose his F1 seat. However, if we look at the bright side, the Honey Badger got time to fully recharge his batteries. He secured a contract with Red Bull as a reserve driver and enjoyed an 8-month break from the sport.
Subsequently, he got a seat at AlphaTauri after the squad kicked out Nyck de Vries. Not letting the chance pass, Ricciardo displayed his experience at the Mexican Grand Prix. Consequently, he has been given one additional year to establish his worth and turn his fairy tale dream into reality.
Coming back to Alpine, the squad now includes two good French drivers, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. Even though both the drivers are incredibly talented, their relationship is the problem. Because Gasly and Ocon have been rivals since they were young, their present dynamic on the squad isn’t beneficial to the team’s development.
While Alpine is still having problems, Oscar Piastri has already won his maiden race in F1, albeit not the main Grand Prix. However, considering that McLaren gives him the right car this season, the Aussie can get some wins or maybe fight for the title.
