One of the biggest stories in F1 last year was the saga surrounding Oscar Piastri. The Aussie driver is one of the biggest talents in the world and won the 2021 F2 Championship in a dominant fashion. The majority of the F1 community was shocked at how he was left on the sidelines for 2022.
He spent last year as Alpine’s reserve driver and fans expected him to join the team as a full-time driver as soon as Fernando Alonso decided to retire. Alonso, however, showed no signs of wanting to stop even at 41 years old. Regardless, Piastri’s road to landing an Alpine seat became a lot easier when Alonso decided to leave for Aston Martin.
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
As soon as the 2-time World Champion left for team Silverstone, Alpine announced Piastri as their new driver for 2023. Unfortunately for the French squad, Piastri took to social media to publicly announce that he had no agreement with Alpine and that he won’t spend the 2023 season with them.
Oscar Piastri shocked Christian Horner with Alpine rejection
On the track, 2022 was a good year for Alpine. Despite the tensions between team principal Otmar Szafnauer and Alonso, the team performed fairly consistently to bag P4 in the constructors’ championship. On the other hand, they had to deal with a lot of drama off the track.
Piastri rejected Alpine’s offer, which made the Enstone-based outfit furious. They helped massively with his development over the last few years and did not appreciate his snubbing at the last moment. On top of that, McLaren became the frontrunner to sign the Melbourne-born driver and the two teams entered a legal battle to secure his services.
Excited to get stuck in with @McLarenF1 tomorrow! https://t.co/gi2w93eFeT
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) November 21, 2022
In the end, McLaren ended up signing up for 2023 but the entire saga seemed bizarre to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Horner was shocked that Piastri would openly denounce and reject Alpine when his F1 future was already up in the air.
“That guy has got one hell of a big set of walls,” Horner said about Piastri as quoted by Business F1.
Whom did Alpine sign in place of Piastri?
After the controversy surrounding Piastri’s departure was cleared, Alpine began to focus on signing another driver for 2023. According to Szafnauer, plenty of top drivers were considered. The likes of Mick Schumacher and Daniel Ricciardo were linked to the empty seat.
However, in the end, it went to none other than Pierre Gasly. The former AlphaTauri driver will line up alongside his French compatriot Ocon to drive for Alpine from 2023 onwards. Piastri meanwhile, will team up with Lando Norris at McLaren.
