McLaren has sensationally claimed that Alpine knew of Oscar Piastri’s planned switch in advance as the French team’s defence begins to unravel.
But Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer has doubled down on accusations he’d been misled about the Piastri’s intentions.
Piastri’s 2023 contract has been at the centre of one of Formula 1’s most controversial driver markets in years, with the Alpine alleging that it was blindsided by the 21-year-old’s decision to defect to McLaren.
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Alpine took the matter to the FIA’s contract recognition board, which found the team had no valid claim to the 21-year-old’s services.
Now further cracks have appeared in Alpine’s defence, with McLaren disputing the notion that the French team was kept in the dark about Piastri’s planned switch.
Throughout this month-long ordeal Szafnauer has implied that Piastri’s camp had kept his team guessing about its intentions, including when Alpine issued a press release declaring Piastri would drive for it in 2023.
He doubled down on Saturday, protesting that he’d heard only paddock speculation of the Australian’s intended defection and knew nothing for certain.
“[On 4 July] there were some rumours,” he said. “The 4 July date was made apparent when we made our subs to the CRB, so that was a few says ago.”
But McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has rubbished the assertion, revealing that the two teams had had management-level meetings to discuss the prospect of Piastri moving to Woking.
“Alpine was well in advance — before the announcement they made regarding Oscar driving for them next year — informed by Oscar, including conversations that also Zak and myself had with the management at Alpine about what was going on,” he said.
McLaren and Piastri’s management team are said to have reached a pre-agreement in June, with high-level talks taking place between the teams in that month.
Alpine had agreed earlier in the year to loan Piastri to McLaren on a reserve-driver basis in the event either Daniel Ricciardo or Lando Norris were unable to take part in a race weekend, which itself suggests communication between the teams were open throughout Piastri’s decision-making process.
The time line of events has become the subject of considerable debate in recent weeks, with Alpine insisting not only that it had a valid claim to the Australian but also that he had apparently raised no issue with the team when he was told at the start of August that he would be promoted into a full-time race seat for 2023.
“I told Oscar,” Szafnauer said last week. “He happened to be in the simulator, so I went and found him, and he smiled and was thankful.”
But the CRB revealed on Friday that Piastri had already signed a contract with McLaren on 4 July, almost a month before Alpine issued its ill-fated press release and Piastri subsequently rebuked the team on social media.
Piastri told the Formula 1 website that he had he kept Szafnauer abreast of his planned move and that he felt cornered by the team principal’s subsequent private and public pronouncements.
“That was a bizarre and frankly upsetting episode,” he said. “It was done publicly in front of some members of the team who were oblivious to the situation, and I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of them.
“Once we were in private I told Otmar what our position was and what he had been told multiple times before that. It was very surprising to me to make that announcement.”
Asked about the incident, Szafnauer told reporters on Saturday at the Dutch Grand Prix that Piastri had lied about the story and insisted the conversation had been fundamentally private.
“I’ve never lied … and I never will, but what I can tell you is to reiterate what I said before,” he said. “Was there a group of people there? I can tell you now it was myself [and] the simulator technician — who happened to be in the same room, but if you’ve ever seen a sim, it’s a pretty big room, and there were three of us in that room.
“There wasn’t a group of people, it wasn’t bizarre, and he smiled and said thank you.
“I informed him that the press release was going out and I congratulated him on being an Alpine driver and he smiled and said thank you and offered nothing else.”
Szafnauer also defended his comments last week accusing Piastri of lacking integrity in his dealings.
“I said at the time that even if there is a loophole that goes against us, we performed on the contract that we thought we had — above and beyond,” he said. “The one thing we asked Oscar in that contract was to be a driver for Alpine in 2023 or to be places elsewhere for 2023 and 2024, and that he didn’t do.”
Szafnauer has suggested that Alpine could release Piastri from his reserve driver contract this week subject to a deal being struck with McLaren.
