Will Piastri’s rift with Alpine put his F1 debut on hold again? · RaceFans

Three weeks ago today the Ganassi IndyCar team issued a press release announcing their driver Alex Palou would remain with them in 2023.

Alongside fulsome praise from team owner Chip Ganassi were a series of incongruously bland comments attributed to the driver. Astonishingly, within a few hours, Palou had not only denied making them but insisted he would not drive for Ganassi in 2023.

So when Alpine issued a press release on Tuesday announcing Oscar Piastri would drive for them in 2023, it didn’t pass without notice that it included no comments whatsoever from the driver. This would have been noteworthy in any case, for what announcement of a driver being awarded their F1 debut is complete without an obligatory line about it being a “dream come true”?

Between the reigning IndyCar champion and the reigning Formula 2 champion, history appeared to be repeating. Sure enough, mere hours after Alpine’s announcement, Piastri issued a denial.

His response was utterly unambiguous. He asserted Alpine’s press release was “wrong” and issued “without my agreement.” In case anyone was still in any doubt he emphasised that “I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023” and “I will not be driving for Alpine next year.” No wriggle room there.

There is a clear parallel with what’s going on in IndyCar. It subsequently emerged Palou had taken up an offer to join McLaren, and the dispute appears to be heading for the courts.

But even without that similarity Piastri’s story is extraordinary. Under what circumstances does a new driver, handed the rare opportunity to take one of the 20 seats available in F1 (only one of which went to a rookie this year) turn it down?

Piastri became a member of Alpine’s junior driver programme in 2020 (when the team was still known as Renault). They couldn’t have asked him to have done any better than he did by winning FIA Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles the first time of asking. But they had nowhere to place him in F1 this year.

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Did it rankle with Piastri that, despite winning the F2 title at his first attempt, he was passed over for promotion to F1 in favour of a driver who took three years to finish third in the same championship? Perhaps, but to his credit Piastri spoke up in support of his fellow Alpine junior driver Zhou Guanyu following the social media backlash over his deal to join Alfa Romeo.