All the newspapers are now talking about case Alpine-Piastres which took place yesterday afternoon: the team, with a statement via social media, had announced that Piastri would race for Alpine in 2023, after the passage of Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin. Totally news denial by the same pilot also through him an Instagram story. But things become increasingly complicated day after day. And today another detail is added to the telenovela, that is a premiere response from the French team.
The clause binding Piastri
After Piastri's announcement late yesterday afternoon, they seemed to have gathered still the waters, but is not so! Alpine has in fact let it be known that Piastri's contract is there a clause about the goals to be achieved with the team by the Australian. The Alpine team principal himself talks about it, Otmar Szafnauer, in a private interview released during the night: “We have contractual obligations with him, and he has them with us. On our side they have been respected, and we have an option to exercise for 2023 and 2024. This year for example he was to be our reserve driver, test last year's car – and has already done 3500km on the 5000 expected – and get it ready for next year. Furthermore, he did the simulator and will participate in the two FP1s ”.
Furthermore, an Alpine spokesperson in an interview with the BBC confirmed: “We believe our press release was legally correct, we have nothing more to add”. From the latest rumors, however, it would seem that Piastri and Mark Webber, its manager, already have agreements with McLaren for 2023, but they are only rumors and there isn't nothing official.
All to poke Alpine
A case like this had happened about a month ago in IndyCar: in that case, we were talking about contractual extension. The pilot in question is palou, driver of the American team Chip ganassi. The team had announced the renewal of the contract by the pilot, who, however, was not never been called into question! He too decided to deny all further adding that there had been positive contacts with McLaren always in IndyCar. The Mexican took care of remembering the event Pato O'Ward who posted a tweet in which it reads: “Alexa play 'deja vu'”. In short, after all this farce, Alpine is losing a lot of credibility in and out of the paddock.
AUTHOR: FRANCESCO ORLANDO
Source statements: FormulaPassion
