Oscar Piastri strongly denies racing for Alpine F1 next year as a replacement for Fernando Alfonso who signed a multi-year contract with Aston Martin
Alpine finds itself in a fiasco after reserve driver Oscar Piastri denies driving for the team in 2023, a day after the sudden exit of Fernando Alonso on Monday.
Alonso announced on Monday that he would drive for Aston Martin after signing a multi-year contract to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel. Alpine exited from the Hungarian Grand Prix believing it was close to reaching an agreement with Alonso for the upcoming 2023 season.
Alpine was then quick to put out a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying Piastri will replace Alonso, despite not having any quotes from the driver himself in the announcement.
Piastri then tweeted in retaliation that the released information was incorrect and quickly denied his intent to race with the group.
“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,” the tweet read.
However, an Alpine spokesperson responded saying: "We believe we are legally correct in our statement but don't have anything further to say."
Alpine’s principal, Otmar Szafnauer, also responded to the issue and firmly stated that Piastri still has a commitment to his team.
“I do know he does have contractual obligations to us and we do to him. We have been honoring those obligations all year,” he said.
However he admitted that communication between the team and Piastri had already broken down. “Oscar and his camp are ’considering their options’, whatever that means,” he added.
The news comes after multiple sources told ESPN that Piastri has signed a pre-contract deal with McLaren, Alpine's direct rival for fourth in this year's constructors' championship.
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