Legal dispute between Piastri and Alpine looms after 2023 announcement
General
- GPblog.com
Oscar Piastri is rumoured to have signed a preliminary contract with the McLaren team, but at Alpine they are convinced that they have a watertight contract with Piastri. According to Otmar Szafnauer, it is only logical that the Australian will drive for his team in 2023.
In an interview with Motorsport.com (from earlier this Tuesday) Szafnauer said he was aware of the rumours, but that he was not worried at all. The team boss said that there are contractual obligations back and forth and that Alpine has fulfilled all these obligations in 2022. So there would be no way for Piastri to say goodbye to his current employer.
"We do have a legal contract with him into the future for '23. And if an option is taken up, for '24. So I don't know what he's done with McLaren. Like I said, I'm not privy to that", the Alpine team boss told the aforementioned medium. It was then also asked if Piastri or his management may have recently hinted at not wanting to race for Alpine. "Oscar and his camp are considering their options, whatever that means.”
Piastri appears to have been uninformed
So it does indeed appear that Alpine made the announcement for 2023 without Alpine's knowledge or approval. It is also notable that Alpine announced the news at around 02:00 Australian time. Piastri's manager, Mark Webber, is currently in his home country and Alpine is thus depriving him of the opportunity to react quickly to the announcement.
So we should not be surprised if Piastri will soon come out with a statement saying that he is within his rights and can race for another team than Alpine. To be continued without any doubt...