Oscar Piastri rejects the Alpine seat announced in his name

Alpine announced Oscar Piastri as its 2023 race driver without including a comment from Piastri himself. Two hours later, the team’s reserve driver supplied his own statement: the announcement was wrong, he had not signed for 2023 and he would not be driving for Alpine.

The dispute developed immediately after Fernando Alonso’s surprise move to Aston Martin. Alpine believed that Piastri, the reigning Formula 2 champion and a member of its driver academy, was the natural replacement alongside Esteban Ocon.

On 2 August 2022, Alpine issued a statement confirming Piastri’s promotion. The wording presented the decision as settled and described the seat as the next stage of the team’s investment in his career.

Eight sentences that changed the driver market

Piastri responded through social media. He said Alpine had issued the announcement without his agreement and stated clearly that he would not race for the team in 2023.

The public denial was unusual not because drivers and teams never disagreed over contracts, but because the disagreement appeared in such direct and accessible form. Alpine had announced a driver. The driver had then rejected the announcement before the news cycle had completed an afternoon.

It soon became clear that McLaren also claimed a valid agreement with Piastri. The case went to the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board, which heard submissions from Alpine, McLaren and the driver.

The recognised contract belongs to McLaren

On 2 September, the board ruled unanimously that the only contract it recognised was Piastri’s agreement with McLaren, dated 4 July 2022. He was therefore entitled to race for McLaren during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

McLaren confirmed Piastri alongside Lando Norris, while Daniel Ricciardo left the team a year before the end of his original contract. Alpine eventually signed Pierre Gasly to partner Ocon.

The dispute exposed a serious failure in Alpine’s management of a driver it had supported through the junior categories. The team had invested in Piastri’s development but had not secured the contractual position it believed it possessed.

Piastri made his Formula 1 debut with McLaren in 2023. The path to that seat began publicly on 2 August, when a reserve driver corrected his own promotion announcement and turned one social-media post into a formal contract case.