Why Alpine only has itself to blame for its F1 driver market blunders

For all of Alpine’s confidence about the case and its swipes at Piastri’s apparent lack of integrity, the team has to face the truth: its errors have caused it to lose a two-time F1 world champion and one of the brightest junior talents for many years in the space of just four weeks.

Fernando Alonso’s shock switch to Aston Martin for 2023 caught everybody out, including Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer, who only found out when the press release was issued despite claiming to have been part of the negotiations (something Alonso denies).

But despite talks stalling, Alpine did not look to budge from what it was putting on the table for Alonso. After all, it had Piastri waiting in the wings; Alpine thought Alonso needed it more than Alpine needed Alonso.

But Sebastian Vettel’s retirement announcement and Aston Martin’s interest in Alonso undid everything for Alpine. The backup plan backfired spectacularly. It had lost Alonso, and in truth, it had already lost Piastri weeks ago. Alpine just didn’t know it yet.

The CRB ruling revealed the agreement in place between Piastri and McLaren was signed on July 4, the Monday after the British Grand Prix and almost a month before Alonso’s exit from Alpine was announced. It was also nine days before Daniel Ricciardo’s statement on Instagram reaffirming his commitment to McLaren.

Piastri is understood to have initially signed a reserve deal with McLaren for 2023, but given its concerns about Ricciardo and the way things were moving, it is likely to have included clauses or elements that factored in a promotion to a race seat should one become available.

A lot has been said about loyalty – or lack of it – from young drivers towards teams that support their F1 careers throughout the Piastri saga. But that has to go in both directions. Yes, Alpine was giving Piastri extensive testing and hoping to make him the best-prepared F1 rookie for some time. Yet by being too focused on keeping Alonso for 2023, it failed to ensure it had everything sewn up with Piastri, whose camp would understandably have grown so frustrated that they pursued options elsewhere.

This is where McLaren sensed an opportunity to swoop in. Regardless of your views on how things unravelled with Daniel Ricciardo, the team simply wanted to secure the best driver line-up possible for the future. It could offer Piastri something that Alpine, as of July 4,…