Oscar Piastri ‘laughs’ when he thinks back to Alpine vs McLaren contract saga

Follow us on Google Discover

Oscar Piastri publicly rejected Alpine during the summer of 2022 in one of the most remarkable stories the sport has seen. They had announced that the Australian would be racing for them the following year.

Zak Brown claims Alpine were trying to bully Piastri by issuing the press release, which didn’t feature any comments from the youngster. Two hours later, he released a statement on his own social media feed saying that he would not be driving for the Enstone team.

By that point, Piastri had already signed for McLaren. Alpine took the dispute to the Contract Recognition Board, and they lost.

Piastri completed his move to Brown’s team, where he partnered Lando Norris in 2023. It was one of F1’s great sliding-door moments.

Oscar Piastri knew his Alpine statement would be a ‘big story’

In an interview with F1’s official YouTube channel, Piastri reflected on the saga. Alpine could have given him a seat in 2022, just after he won the Formula 2 title.

But they were committed to Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso, which left Piastri on the sidelines. He found it ‘tough’ to watch sessions from the garage.

When Alonso unexpectedly left for Aston Martin, Alpine scrambled to promote Piastri, but it was too late.

“It was certainly a tough time,” Piastri said of the 2022 season. “Naturally, as a racing driver, you want to go racing. That year, not racing was tough, definitely.

Will Piastri have a better career than any driver on this list?

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

“It did allow me to view some things from the outside a little bit easier – being part of a weekend, understanding what media commitments are going to be like, what the sponsor commitments are going to be like, just the general rhythm of the season.

“It was a tough season. I always took pride in the fact that I was doing everything that I could. I was always confident that something would come up.

“There was obviously a lot of noise around what was going on. I knew it was going to be a pretty big story.

“There were reasons for doing that. It wasn’t just me going out of my way to announce to the world that I’m not racing!

“I certainly look back on it now with some laughs. At the time, it wasn’t so funny. We obviously went to the CRB and things were in my favour. That was another pretty tense one.”

Alpine missed out on one of the best midfield F1 line-ups ever

Alpine had Alonso, a two-time world champion, and Piastri, one of the top young talents of his generation, under contract at the same time. Within a matter of days, they let both slip away.

This left Alpine staff ‘tearing their hair out’, even if the plan-b line-up of Ocon and Pierre Gasly was solid.

It was certainly a fortuitous turn of events for Piastri, even if McLaren struggled in his first few races. He was able to score podiums as a rookie and win races in year two.

By contrast, Sam Bird reckons Piastri would be ‘stuck at the back of the grid’ if he had stayed at Alpine, who finished bottom of the 2025 standings. Perhaps a top team, be it McLaren or one of their rivals, would have snapped him up before now.