Piastri makes shock announcement he will not debut in F1 with Alpine next year

2023 F1 season

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Oscar Piastri has issued a statement denying he will make his Formula 1 debut for Alpine next year, hours after the team claimed he would.

Alpine announced this afternoon its reserve driver had been chosen to take the place of Fernando Alonso in 2023. It followed Aston Martin’s surprise announcement yesterday that they had hired Alonso for next season.

Piastri, the reigning Formula 2 champion, seemed a logical choice of replacement for Alonso. However he has now issued a statement insisting he will not race for the team next year.

“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,” he posted on social media. “This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023.

Oscar Piastri, Alpine, Losail International Circuit, 2021
F1 driver biography: Oscar Piastri
“I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”

Prior to Alonso’s decision to leave Alpine, the team had looked at loaning him to a rival such as Williams. Rumours also linked him to McLaren as a potential replacement for the under-performing Daniel Ricciardo, though he already holds a contract for next year.

The Piastri situation holds remarkable parallels to IndyCar driver Alex Palou’s ongoing wrangle with Chip Ganassi Racing. Palou won the IndyCar title for the team last year, and they announced last month they had taken up an option on his services for next year, only for Palou to immediately contradict that. McLaren SP subsequently announced they had signed Palou. The driver and Ganassi are now heading to court over the dispute.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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149 comments on “Piastri makes shock announcement he will not debut in F1 with Alpine next year”

  1. Omg Palou 2.0 !

    1. Could yesterday and today be the 1st dominoes in a chain that sees Renault / Alpine exit F1 (again)? I’ll place a cheeky tenner on them selling out to Andretti in the next 3 years.

      1. Surely there’s time for Alonso to rejoin them one more time…

      2. Thank you for making me chuckle :)

  2. You should contact Alpine asking for a explenation…

    1. Alpine’s contract with Piastri ended on July 31
      The next day Alonso announces he’s moving on.
      Alpine may have thought that Piastri would not go to another team.
      They were wrong.

      1. Hmm… almost seems like Alonso planned that move with his old mate Mark Webber who happens to be Piastri’s manager.

        1. Absolutely spot on. Mark and Fred have been good mates for years…..

  3. At the very least, this is absolutely amazing content

    1. Haha, indeed! The silliest silly season.

  4. El Plan, lol. How does Alpine get it soo wrong.

    1. “El Plan” 🥱

  5. Looks like Piastri turned to Palou and said ‘hold my beer…’

    1. Bruno Verrari
      2nd August 2022, 19:40

      What soup is Maca silently preparing in the background?!
      And/or Dr. Marko?!

  6. Seems bizarre for an F1 team not to have a rock-solid contract in place before announcing their new driver.

    Maybe they felt that the Alonso situation had made them look a bit silly so wanted to change the conversation to something more positive? Looks like it backfired!

    1. Got me scratching my head from different angles.

    2. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
      2nd August 2022, 20:06

      Yes, the unilateral decision to go ahead and announce without confirmation from the driver smacks of wanting to appear in control of events, an impression not in place over the past 36 hours. Ironically, they now look further out of control than ever.

      1. Could be there was a deadline for Alpine to give Piastri a seat, otherwise he would be free to go. All went too fast when Alonso anounced he left Alpine for green bull imo. Alpine could’t make contact with Piastri, so they went for the ‘official’ anouncement by media. Piastri just says he did not have any contact whatsoever. He already got a seat with Mclaren, form where he will be promoted to Mercedes. I think he (and especialy Merc) knows what they are doing.

    3. Panic mode… They though they were manipulating the whole situation and found out they had no control on anyone. LOL, as they say :-)

    4. Piastri is hot commodity, he has solid potential and we will see him next season.

      Kinda feeling vindicated or avenged that he snubbed alpine like that. They (under Otmar to be specific) don’t deserve him in the least

      1. Should’ve been a stand alone comment, sry

    5. I am afraid you are right and what it tells us about the management of Alpine.

  7. Now that the championship is over on track, thankfully the off track shenanigans keep on giving.

    Honestly, I don’t think going up against Norris in your debut year after a year’s gap is a good idea for Piastri. He risks becoming another Stoffel Vandoorne

    1. @sumedhvidwans did your see him in F2? He’s unproven in F1 so anything can happen but he is one of the few drivers that I think has Verstappen like potential. Once he settles in, you may find Norris is the one you’re comparing to Vandorne. Alternatively he may struggle, but of all the recent rookies, Oscar is the only one I would bet big on. There’s pure talent there. This guy is the real deal.

      1. Not wishing ill luck to Piastri. It is great that drivers like him with real talent are coming through.

        However, the jump from F2 to F1 is not a straight forward one. I used Vandoorne as an example as the Belgian also faced a similar situation of facing a year out after winning GP2 / F2 and then going up against a driver very much in his prime. It has taken Vandoorne fair bit of time to recoup his old form and is now finally leading the standings in Formula E.

        The jump from F2 to F1 is difficult even for the best of the drivers. Leclerc was outqualified, out-raced for the first 3-4 races, Russell took a fair bit of time to get his Sundays as good as his Saturdays, Norris took more than half a season to finally start matching Sainz, Albon got a severe pounding from Verstappen that he simply had to sit the year out after that.

        Given that, Ocon would have been an easier competitor to Piastri compared to Norris. Would be glad to be proven wrong.

        Been a while since a driver caused so much controversy even before his 1st race!!

        1. @sumedhvidwans i think Max was the last one and look how that turned out! Yes, it will take time but the seasons are long now too. Give him half a year and I’m convinced he will be competitive against anyone he is paired with.

          I never saw Vandorne as being “that” good but i understand the sentiment. I might be wrong on Piastri and I’m happy to be proven wrong. Just what I saw last year, Piastri has that quiet knowledge of his own ability and has proven it every chance he has had. His mentality and racecraft shown so far are both on par with Max and Lewis. Raw talent like that doesn’t care much for a year off nor a change in machinery. It learns and adapts. From my perspective, he’s the prospect we’ve had in years. Only time will tell now.

  8. Because he’ll be driving for them this year after the summer break. Seb will retire early, letting Alonso into the Aston.

    Boom!

    1. You might be right! Ricciardo not scoring enough points is costing McLaren big money and 4th place in the constructors. If Vettel can be convinced to retire early then all the dominoes can fall into place.

      1. AFAIK Column 2 prize money differential between 4th & 5th (and 5th & 6th) is only about two Elvas. The step change is between 4th & 3rd @ 3 Speedtails, higher than that it’s 4 Speedtails & an Elva per position.

  9. What’s he doing instead then? Is Oscar going elsewhere in F1? McLaren without them telling Daniel? What a mess or is it something more simple.

    1. I immediately thought he signed for McLaren when reading his statement, but I could be jumping to conclusions too soon.

      1. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
        2nd August 2022, 20:08

        I think your conclusion is the only logical one. The question is whether Daniel’s situation is already quietly resolved, or whether they were planning to sort that out later.

      2. Reading between the lines I think it is McLaren. Then Ricciardo can go back to Alpine where he was still a decent driver in 2020.

      3. Why not Williams?

    2. Yes, it does seem very unusual. One has to presume he has a better contract, but I’m not sure with whom. Even if Alpine had made the announcement without Oscar’s permission it does seem very unusual he would take such offence as to terminate his contract with them. After all, his parents and sponsors have paid big money for him to get to the position where he can drive in F1. He isn’t going to be popular with them if he’s turned down the exact role they have been dreaming he’d get because of a perceived slight.
      Alpine is currently fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, so this is a really good position he has turned down. I look forward to his forthcoming announcement of a better contract position.

    3. I think it could just as likely be a deal with AT for 2023 and RBR for 2024 (if he meets performance benchmarks).

      1. @Nick T. Extremely improbable as that team is only for drivers with a certain status & he isn’t among those.

  10. Is Zak Brown bored because he’s already expanded McLaren’s operation into every other major single seater series so now he has to mess with his rivals’ junior drivers just to amuse himself or something?? Baffling.

    1. Yeah I respect what Zack has done but he is acting crazy. Bringing in all these different young drivers and giving him false hope. I cannot see him bringing any of them to McLaren because Norris is his star and he won’t want to disrupt him.
      Nuts!

    2. Yeah, Zak is having a great time… He was looking at those boring holiday and instead will be spending the coming weeks hanging on his iphone.

      Seriously, not a good day at work, but still a very funny afternoon, following the F1 news..

    3. yeah I think there’s 5 guys Zak has promised an F1 seat to now :)

    4. I think Zak has realised that Lando and Daniel have driving styles that are too different to allow the car development to be clear and optimised. Daniel seems to need the car behaving in a specific way to be really fast, and he’s super fast when it is – nothing wrong with that just that McLaren (and Renault before) couldn’t get the car like that really. It may be that these cars/tyres just don’t allow a driving style like that.

      Lando isn’t a rookie anymore and seems to be dealing with being the lead driver very well. Adding Piastri doesn’t seem too much of a risk – on a multi year deal with performance clauses so they can move him aside if he turns out to be blown away by Lando, which I wouldn’t expect but Lando does seem to be one of the best drivers on the grid.

      I don’t think it’ll be too bad for Alpine – they’ll either get a very discounted Daniel with some wages paid by McLaren or someone else like Kimi/Hulk for a year, all of which are good drivers – or they could go for any number of drivers from F2 who’d jump at such an opportunity.

  11. So… Alpine have a race seat that nobody wants?

    1. It’s not like they have no options: if Piastri replaces Ricciardo, they can always re-hire Ricciardo. And if not, Hulkenberg is always an option.

      1. @paeschli Hulkenberg’s regular F1 racing days are over.

        1. Crazy that his racing days are over while Latifi’s aren’t …

          1. @paeschli @falken @antznz
            His days will probably be over after this season unless Williams somehow runs out of driver options.

          2. @falken – It’s Latiffi so $ ….. ;)

        2. I think he was memeing, i appreciated it!

      2. Mick Schumacher isn’t contracted for next year, and neither is Alex Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, nor Zhou Guanyu. They all have much more experience in F1 than Oscar does. I suspect by now Alpine will already have a short list of good candidates for this seat.

        1. @drycrust if it was my call, I’d take Oscar over any of them. His F2 season was sublime. He’s the only one of those listed that has genuine WC potential.

          Though you could be saying that if they don’t get Piastri, there are still options and yes they do. They’re just all rather lacklustre…

        2. Albon is likely to be confirmed at Williams sometime this week though @drycrust

        3. @drycrust All four will continue in their respective current teams in all likelihood.

      3. What about Pourchaire!

    2. I have heard rumors that the coffee is bellow par.

    3. Nicky would probably take the upgrade. ;-)

  12. petebaldwin (@)
    2nd August 2022, 19:28

    Seems a pretty risky call from Piastri unless he has something else guaranteed. I hope McLaren have already had “the chat” with Ricciardo as that could be a bit awkward otherwise!

    1. Indeed! Very awkward.

    2. Sometimes, you have no other choices than choosing a side… I guess that were Oscar is today… the best option or the less evil…

      1. Yeah why he felt the need to dispute the announcement so fast. He could find himself with no seat it he doesn’t have a contract elsewhere already.

    3. Well said…veey risky indeed. Maybe he spent too much time with Alonso and learned how to make stupid career decisions.

  13. Wow I’m sorry, but I’m laughing like never before, never related to F1. What a team this Alpine is. Alonso debacle, now this humiliation, on top of the fact that they are a factory team, present for a long time in F1, and they talk about 10 year plans after a failed 5 year plan. What is going on and why is anyone financing these folks? I hope they won’t abandon the sport again in the end, we need more teams, not less, but they seem like a perfect candidate to sell their spot.

  14. This is awesome.
    And I was expecting the summer break to be downright boring. Hah ….!
    The Silly Season just keeps getting better all the time.

    1. And it’s only day two.

  15. Well then, glad we are on summer break.

  16. Maybe he doesn’t want to race for Alpine but he may be forced to.
    If Ricardo agrees to come back to Alpine, then I can see him not racing there obviously.
    But in that case I don’t see him going to McLaren. Zack Brown will not bring this guy into compete with his star. It just wouldn’t make sense.
    So if Ricardo goes to Alpine, I see P Astri going to Williams and it’s anybody’s guess who goes to McLaren. Possibly Romain Grosjean.

    1. Bruno Verrari
      2nd August 2022, 19:46

      Would be great!
      Or Marcus Ericsson.
      Or Daniil Kvyat?!

  17. Read a comment on another side suggesting Ricciardo goes back to Alpine.
    Would be a good story for him. Go back to a team where you were popular and beating your team mate after it doesn’t work out at mclaren. Ironically just like alonso in 2007/8. Then piastri goes to mclaren. He must have a good option if he’s happy to upset alpine by going via Twitter not calling alpine.

    1. I said on here yesterday that I thought Daniel’s team would be straight on the phone to Alpine as soon as Fernando’s departure was made public. Daniel did quite well there and the team seemed to suit him. More than McLaren has.

      So Oscar to McLaren and Daniel to Alpine. Everyone is happy.

      1. Who in their right mind would invite and pay Daniel Ricciardo money to drive their Formula 1 car after the past two years of constant s*ck?

        1. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
          2nd August 2022, 20:11

          Do you remember how Daniel was doing great in the Renault in the final races of 2020 and then immediately “sucked” (to take your phrase) in the McLaren from race 1 2021? Sometimes, driver-team combinations just don’t work out. Doesn’t necessarily follow he would struggle back at Enstone.

          1. At that point, you’re just gambling, and on terrible odds, too.

            Not saying I would put that past Otmar and the Renault people, but let’s hope saner minds prevail.

      2. Ain’t going to happen. They won’t bring in another youngster with Norris. Ricardo will fill out his term.

    2. We all thought Alpine must have a good option if they announce Piastri without calling him.

  18. Never heard of this guy. At least it’s not an article about Hulkenberg again. Why does he look constipated?

    1. You must not watch F1 then…

  19. Seems like Alpine forgot to announce Monisha Kaltenborn joined their HR team

    1. Excellent !!!

    2. Nice! Didn’t that flare up in the first race in Australia???

  20. “To lose one driver may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness” to paraphrase Oscar Wilde.

    This saga suggests a wider dysfunction within Alpine. How can you not secure one driver with two quality drivers in the building? There are only 20 seats on the grid and probably only 8 that are better than what you can offer, how can you mess this up?

    1. They couldn’t secure the two drivers they should have because they had a contract with their number 2.

      Maybe they should ask Nicky if he wants their first car?

    2. Was it Oscar Wilde that said “I can resist anything except a good contract”?

      1. @drycrust Something like that. Although if we took the exact attributed wording the temptation that Piastri has succumbed to must be something very special to basically forgo a pretty solid midfield F1 drive.

  21. Apparently Alonso, Webber and Ricciardo have collaborated on this. Webber and Ricciardo knew he was out the door at McLaren so it basically leaves Alpine as his only likely destination to save his career.

    Alpine have breached Piastri’s contract but not clear how. They either take Ricciardo as the best option on offer. Fight for Piastri in court or pay big to snare Alonso back from Stroll.

    1. Source please

      1. I couldn’t do that to my mate, not worth his job.

        It’s obvious really, when you think about it. The relationship Webber has with his friend Alonso and his friend Ricciardo is well documented. So don’t tell me they haven’t discussed this. The only seats available with any hope of edging closer to the front are McLaren, Alpine & Aston. And Alonso, Ricciardo and Piastri will be in them.

        Should be confirmed in the next few days, Alpine have been caught out by Alonso’s move though, why do you think he kept it quiet until yesterday? Because Webber and Piastri were in on it.

        1. Not sure how it is obvious.

          Alpine can sign super sub Hulkenburg and break this chain. Ricciardo can choose to simply stay (it is on him – not Mclaren – whether he wants to race in 2023) and Piastri might end up looking like a fool.
          Why would Ricciardo want to go back to the team that he rejected just half way through his initial 2 year deal?

          1. Hulkenberg has great hair, but as a driver he is terrible and old.

          2. @darryn The Hulk was never a terrible driver. Never had the machinery to demonstrate his true potential, and raced at a time when the field was full of world champions.

          3. @justrhysism I Wish people would spamming the hulkenberg meme, he’s absolutely rubbish. Not a single podium in over a decade of racing upper midfield cars and the almost guaranteed 2nd in Brazil 2012 was thrown away when he locked locked crashing into Lewis destroying both of their races..

            WHY would any serious team hire him? He was never good, He’s now in his mid 30’s and overweight (probably cost a tenth in pace right there) but its always a mystery why his name always pops up when there is a free seat. Its almost like he pays a trollfarm to astroturf his name everywhere online

            The focus should be on Oscar not nico hulkenberg who does not deserve to tie Piastris shoes.

            Good for Oscar snubbing the joke enstone team, he destroyed the F3 and F2 competition in his rookie seasons winning both titles whilst mediocre journeyman zhou(total of 6 seasons in F2/F3 wining zero titles..) thanks to his huge piles of pay driver money from pooh bear got to debut in F1 before him because seat blocker alonso not doing the right thing and vacating the seat was probably the straw that ‘broke the camels back’.

            So i can totally understand why Oscar done this and most likely signed with McLaren . F1 is a cut throat industry and you owe ZERO loyalty to a team that does not treat you with respect and does not reward successes.

          4. @ccpbioweapon I never suggested that they should actually hire him. Just that he was never terrible.

            Indeed he is long past his prime and it doesn’t make sense to sign him, especially with so much young talent around.

        2. That does make a lot of sense.

        3. Kind of makes sense when you think who, in the shadows, Mark and Nando might be chatting tactics with about this.

          1. I have an opinion
            3rd August 2022, 0:32

            El Plan is coming from Flavio Briatore?

          2. I will not be surprised though. As mentioned by @Jasper, Alonso and Webber have been friends since their F3000 days and were both managed by Briatore. Briatore is also friend with Lawrence Stroll and both were seen in Sardinia in Flavio’s yacht last year but Aston rubbished claims about them offering a contract to Alonso.

            In Piastri’s case at least, while we don’t have all the details to compare it with Schumacher’s move to Benetton. you can notice the modus operandi of Flavio Briatore. Alpine were indeed caught by surprise.

            https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/aston-martin-rubbishes-alonso-f1-offer-rumours-/6660510/

  22. I don’t know how to feel about this situation anymore. What a mess, laughable.

    1. @jerejj whatever the outcome, as long as Piastri is on the grid it’s fine by me. You’d think people would get signatures before making announcements though… Usually how contracts work.

    2. @jerejj I don’t know eather what is happening and we are only in the 2nd day of summer brake

      1. Coventry Climax
        2nd August 2022, 22:25

        Potayto, potahto, eather, either,
        let’s call the whole thing off!

  23. Oh well, at least Otmar still has Esteban in his second car … for now. :D

    What a literal s-show.

    1. The only way this could get funnier is if McLaren announced Ocon as Ric’s replacement.

      1. 😂😂

      2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        2nd August 2022, 21:11

        @f1hornet good one! And Abiteboul replaced Zak Brown at McLaren.

      3. Coventry Climax
        2nd August 2022, 22:29

        Only to find out that Giedo van der Garde has a signed contract there too?

        1. We have a winner!

    2. Yup, that’s on Otmar. He chose Ocon, he got Ocon.
      His muttering is heard even from a boat somewhere in the Greek islands (where he thought Alonso is, which is another funny story).

      1. @k, I know you’re only joking, but he didn’t technically choose Ocon as Ocon joined the team before him.

        1. @jerejj, I didn’t meant that as a joke. Yes, Ocon had his 3y contract signed before Otmar joining Alpine, but allowing Ocon to fight Alonso and losing track positions by doing so (Saudi Arabia 2022, Hungary 2022) instead of working as a team (as in Hungary 2021), gives me a hint on what driver is the prevailing for Otmar.

          Regarding the Greek islands thing, seems Otmar said to the media he heard nothing back from Alonso since he was in a boat somewhere in Greece, meaning he was not reachable. In the meanwhile, Alonso posted something from Spain – showing how much apart are they.

  24. What is this? Has this ever occurred here in our sport? Alpine and Mclaren trolling us?

  25. It’ll be hilarious if he has already or will have signed with McLaren, ahahah!

    Anyway, if he doesn’t sign with Alpine, we will need some explanation as to why Fernando Alonso had to move to a garbage team.

    1. Next year’s AM will be designed by a whole group of the best engineers from RBR and Mercedes using their new facilities. Many of the engineers (due to required gardening leave) couldn’t work on this year’s car and many of their facilities were not ready to be used.

      1. AM motto: where design meets copying.

  26. Between haas doing due diligence on rich energy, the Palou and Piastri situation, and Ferrari’s season to date, I am beginning to think that a “big brain” job in the high pressure world of top flight motorsports may not be as unobtainably far from my skill set as I thought.

    1. LOL! COTD.

    2. Maybe Covid19 did some damage to their skillsets @Hairs

  27. It’s easy to claim this now, but I noticed that Alpine never explicitly claimed that Piastri would drive for them.

    The article merely mentioned that he would drive in F1 (did @KeithCollantine know more?).

    Furthermore the quotes focus on that he deserved a promotion and that he would be good team with Ocon.
    But never a direct quote that he would race for Alpine.

    1. The kid said it in his statement that Alpine announced him as the driver.
      “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,” he posted on social media. “This is wrong, and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023.
      I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”

      It is interesting he went out of his way to add that he will not be driving with them. He could have left the statement as I have not signed a contract for Alpine for 2023 which would leave a door open. He seems to have slammed that shut.

  28. What’s next? Hakkinen’s sabbatical ends? Badoer gets another chance at Ferrari? Alain Prost says Ferrari is actually a good car? Maldonado comeback? Rich Energy gets a new deal?

  29. As a McLaren, I was quite disappointed when Piastri’s apparent future had been decided, but this really seems as if his transfer from Alpine’s hands was already cooked before Alonso’s decision.I really hope he joins McLaren.

  30. This might be Alonso’s finest work yet.

  31. What a week for Alpine management. Someone is getting fired.

    1. Maybe this person can join Ferrari

  32. In terms of incompetence, Alpine management and HR are on par with the Ferrari strategy department. Now they’re stuck with Ocon. Karma !

    1. lol no one likes Ocon

  33. Are we certain it is McLaren who have poached him and not Red Bull for the Alpha Tauri seat? Either way his words are too direct, so its a better seat and a multiyear deal counting out Williams. But a signed agreement with McLaren doesnt mean anything, just ask Magnussen, Ricciardo, Palou, Rosenquist and so on… Its a bit too early for the youngster to be burning bridges

    1. Holy crap, thanks for the prompt. I reread what Alpine said, they never said he would race for them, or anyone.

      As our reserve driver he has been exposed to the team at the track, factory and testing where he has shown the maturity, promise and speed to ensure his promotion to our second seat alongside Esteban.

      They say he is ensured promotion, not that it is a done deal or is happening at all. Its basically just a big praise release, perhaps hoping to win him over. It’s not a confirmation annoucnement but more of an announcement of intent to confirm, laying claim perhaps? But they never say he will be racing for them in 2023!

      It’s easy to read what you expect from statements and miss the finer points.

  34. McLaren says hi 👋

  35. Can we have some races in August please, instead of this nonsense?

  36. Paging Nyck de Vries. Paging Nyck de Vries.

    Nyck, you need to talk to Toto. And Alpine.

    1. De Vries is not good enough.

      1. Lewisham Milton
        2nd August 2022, 23:21

        He’s too young to have a pager, or know what they are…

  37. OKaay then 😕

  38. Leonard ‘Big Lenny’ Persin (@)
    2nd August 2022, 23:02

    McLaren have been way too quiet on their second seat since being bullish in their position earlier in the year. Done deal for a long time, that’s why Zak and co pretty much moved on from it.

  39. Wow what a bombshell.

    Think about this… Red Bull need a team mate for Verstappen in 2025. It won’t be Gasly or Tsunoda.

    Mark Webber has close ties to both Red Bull and Porsche.

    So perhaps its not McLaren at all. Piastri could be announced as a Red Bull driver in an Alpha Tauri for 23 and 24.

    And Horner and Marko would ‘get one back’ on Renault/Apline for losing Danny Ric a few years back.

    The more I think about it the more this lines up.
    But who knows !!

    1. I’m digging this train of thought. Everyone is focused on Alpine and McLaren, but it wouldn’t even surprise me at this point if RBR/AT would snatch him away from them

    2. A year at Toro Rosso then chance of promotion makes more sense to me. I am surprised that Piastri would choose McLaren over Alpine. Both are roughly equal currently but joining McLaren means turning down a manufacturer who has significant investment in him. Alpine seems a better choice than McLaren, which suggests to me he has signed elsewhere.

      Would this then mean Gasly to Alpine?

    3. Yeah I think you could be right. None of their other academy drivers are looking that great and Perez if a placeholder at best who seems to be getting worse rather than better… Neither of the current AT drivers are going to be making that leap. This makes more sense than the McLaren talks but it’s F1, who knows!

      1. Perez is signed until 2024, though. Not that contracts, necessarily mean anything to Horner and Co.!!

        1. So 2 seasons in AT to mature and then replace Perez, sounds plausible to me

    4. “Red Bull need a team mate for Verstappen in 2025”
      …or a successor. It’s very unlikely that he will stick to RB till the end of his career. He has been there since quite a few years. Sooner or later he will need some fresh air and the challenge of moving to another team.

  40. Seems Alpine have subcontracted their press communications to the Ferrari strategy team

    1. JungleMartin
      3rd August 2022, 0:00

      :)

  41. I think what he meant is that he will be driving for that team. Just, that team is not going to be named Alpine. Andretti Autosport… Audi…perhaps?

  42. Liberty is working with Alpine to give Jimmie Johnson the seat.

  43. Alpine’s lack of ambition is so toxic that not a single entity, be it racer or engine customer, with ambition is willing to stay.
    Red Bull, Riccairdo, McLaren, Alonso and Piastri all ran away in the space of 8 years.

  44. No star driver, no top engineering talent, no engine customers, weakest PU on the grid…

    I will eat my own face if Renault don’t pull the plug (again) within the next 12 months.

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