Having bided his time on the sidelines for a season, Oscar Piastri will be a Formula 1 driver in 2023 as he has been confirmed by Alpine as Esteban Ocon’s team-mate.
Despite proving a prolific talent in the junior series, winning three championship titles in three years – 2019 to 2021 with that run culminating in his Formula 3 championship success – Piastri found himself a victim of Formula 1’s lack of seats.
The Alpine junior was blocked from a promotion to Formula 1 in 2022, the Enstone team already having signed Ocon and Fernando Alonso. He had to settle for a reserve driver role, the Australian watching on from the sidelines.
Alpine were adamant his time would come, and come it has after Alonso opened the door for the 21-year-old when he announced he is off to Aston Martin to replace Sebastian Vettel.
It did not take Alpine long to confirm Piastri’s promotion to a Formula 1 race driver.
2023 driver line-up confirmed: Esteban Ocon 🤝 Oscar Piastri
After four years as part of the Renault and Alpine family, Reserve Driver Oscar Piastri is promoted to a race seat alongside Esteban Ocon starting from 2023. pic.twitter.com/4Fvy0kaPn7
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) August 2, 2022
Piastri will join his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo on the 2023 grid, Formula 1 having two Australian drivers competing for the first time since Mark Webber retired at the end of the 2013 campaign.
Piastri will team up with Ocon, the Frenchman having signed a long-term deal with the team, one that will keep him at the Enstone team through to the end of 2024.
The 21-year-old is looking to become the first Australian since Alan Jones in 1980 to win the Drivers’ Championship title. Before Jones, only Jack Brabham had won it for the nation, doing so in 1959, 1960 and again in 1966.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at News – PlanetF1…