“Thankful” Piastri indicated he was happy to get 2023 Alpine seat

Oscar Piastri indicated he was pleased to be given the chance to make his Formula 1 debut for Alpine before later turning it down publicly, according to team principal Otmar Szafnauer.

Alpine issued a statement claiming Piastri would join them for 2023 after Fernando Alonso made the surprise announcement he would leave them to join Aston Martin. However Piastri subsequently denied he would race for the team.

Piastri had been in discussions to join McLaren for next year. The parties are due to appear before the Contract Recognition Board on Monday, which will rule on the matter.

Szafnauer described Piastri’s reaction when he told the driver he would be promoted to their race team in 2023.

“I told Oscar before the announcement was made,” he said in today’s FIA press conference at Spa-Francorchamps. “He happened to be in the simulator so I went and found him, and he smiled and was thankful. So we made the [press] release very quickly.”

Alpine’s announcement confirming Piastri immediately prompted speculation as it contained no comment from the driver. “Things happened very quickly and we too reacted quickly and didn’t want to go back and forth with his management, which is why we put the release out,” Szafnauer explained.

Piastri did not tell Szafnauer he did not intend to race for the team: “We heard through social media.”

Szafnauer, who dismissed reports elsewhere Alpine failed to take up an option on Piastri before a deadline of July 31st, said he is “very” confident the CRB will rule in Alpine’s favour. “I’ve seen both sides of the argument,” he said. “We’re confident that Oscar signed with us back in November and there are certain things that need to be in the contract, and I’m confident they’re in that.”

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“The disappointing thing really is that he signed something with us in November, we delivered everything that we were meant to – in addition to that, actually over-delivered – and his promise to us was to race with us if we put him in our car,” he added. “So that’s what we’re pursuing.”

Alpine will not make a decision on who will drive for them next year until the CRB makes its decision. “I don’t know when they’ll rule,” said Szafnauer. “It will be soon thereafter. And then once we have all the information in front of us, we’ll start looking at who will fill the open seat.”

Although Szafnauer has been publicly critical of Piastri,…