Camila Vega
This Tuesday, August 2, Alpine announced that Oscar Piastri would be promoted to Formula 1 to be in the headliner. A few hours later, the driver denied the news, announcing that he would not be a driver next year for the team. Thus, Oscar Piastri and Alpine are now in the eye of the hurricane.
The way the Fernando Alonso news unfolded was truly irritating for Alpine. After all, they had offered the double world champion a route back to the sport in early 2021 on a multi-year deal. In the midst of this turmoil, how has the news unfolded?
With Alonso’s departure, Alpine looked for a plan B: promoting Oscar Piastri a year ahead of schedule. However, there was a problem with this plan. The Australian is believed to have an option elsewhere on the grid and is more interested in taking it, rather than joining Alpine.
Notwithstanding, Alpine announced the good news without Piastri’s confirmation, apparently. And, as far as we all know, this is not the way things are done with driver announcements. A few hours later, Piastri said Alpine ran the ad “without my agreement” and that he would not be driving for the team next year. It was a bomb. So… What happens next? There is no easy answer to this.
How Is the Piastri-Alpine Drama Going?
Ultimately, it is up to Piastri and Alpine, which is headed by former Red Bull driver Mark Webber, wheter they decide to resolve it between them or head to the FIA’s contract recognition board, as it deals with such disputes.
There are two options: one scenario is that he stays with Alpine and the team will have one of the most exciting drivers to come out of junior formulae since Lando Norris, George Russell, and Alex Albon were promoted. Another scenario is not to continue together. Alpine will have to go back to its list of potential drivers, while it seems that the driver looks like he will be leaving with McLaren. However, if McLaren wants to place Piastri in a race seat, that brings even more complications, as they would have to find a way to terminate Daniel Ricciardo‘s deal early.
But it is unclear whether Ricciardo would want to stay in Formula 1 if this were the case. So there is a lot of suppositions in the air at the moment. For now, we only know the statements made by both the team and the pilot.
Reactions to the Mess Between Oscar Piastri and Alpine
This situation has generated many laughs and memes, which we bring you below:
