Alpine wish Piastri ‘had more integrity’ amid F1 contract saga

Piastri is at the centre of a contractual tug-of-war between Alpine and McLaren, with both teams believing they have a valid contract in place with last year’s F2 champion. 

Alpine announced Piastri as the Aston Martin-bound Fernando Alonso’s replacement at the start of the summer break, only for the Australian to deny he had signed to race with the team that have backed him since 2019.

Instead, Piastri is set to replace the ousted Daniel Ricciardo in the driver line-up and make his debut with McLaren in F1 2023. 

“He’s a promising young driver, hasn’t driven in F1 yet,” Szafnauer told Sky F1. 

"My wish for Oscar was that he had a bit more integrity. He signed a bit of paper as well back in November and we’ve done everything on our end of the bargain to prepare him for F1. 

“And his end of the bargain was to either drive for us or take a seat where we would place him for the next three years. I just wish Oscar would have remembered what he signed in November, what he signed up to.” 

F1’s Contracts Recognition Board (CRB) is due to meet on Monday to determine whether Alpine or McLaren will get Piastri’s services next season. 

"I think the right thing for us is to go to the CRB on Monday and see how that pans out and then start looking at some negotiations in earnest,” Szafnauer replied when asked if Alpine were in negotiations with other drivers over their vacant seat. 

Alpine have not ruled out a move to re-sign Ricciardo, who raced for the team in 2019 and 2020 when it competed as Renault. 

Speaking ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend following the news of his impending exit from McLaren, Ricciardo admitted he was open to returning to Enstone. 

"The team speak very highly of Daniel and his time here,” said Szafnauer. 

“We haven’t had those strategic discussions yet but everybody that I ask, the engineering team, they really speak highly of his skill as a driver and a team motivator.”