Oscar Piastri’s agency denial of Alpine asserting him as their driver for the 2023 F1 season is “very surprising” given the group’s “great upwards trajectory”, says former F1 driver Paul di Resta.
A dramatic couple of days has seen Fernando Alonso stun the paddock by signing a “multi-year contract” with Aston Martin from subsequent yr, leaving Alpine with a seat to fill to associate Esteban Ocon.
Alpine reserve driver and 2021 F2 champion Oscar Piastri was on Tuesday night introduced because the group’s F1 driver subsequent yr in a press launch which raised suspicions after it didn’t embrace any quotes from the 21-year-old himself.
Hours later, Piastri insisted this press launch had been printed “without his permission” and he has “not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023”, including he’ll “not be driving for Alpine next year.” Williams have on Wednesday morning printed a cryptic tweet teasing an announcement this afternoon at 3:00pm BST.
Despite rumours the Australian – who’s managed by 9 time Grand Prix winner Mark Webber – has been in talks with each McLaren and Williams, Di Resta admits he’s “very surprised” that Piastri hasn’t accepted the provide of a seat at Alpine, who’re at present fourth within the 2022 Constructors Standings.
“Fernando going to Aston, I hadn’t heard it anywhere, I don’t believe my colleagues had either and it also caught Otmar Szafnauer by surprise,” Di Resta instructed Sky Sports News.
“That has led on to what has happened obviously with Piastri who has been an Alpine junior. They have been lobbying him, saying how good he is and where that seat is going to come up and even trying to place him within the Formula 1 paddock because he is an asset to them in the future.
“Now, that statement that he has put out, I find it very surprising that he is rejecting a team that is in the top four and a great upward trajectory, that you wouldn’t want to drive for them.”
Di Resta added that the one conclusion is that Piastri has already landed a seat at one other group, which then throws into the combination Daniel Ricciardo’s future ought to that group be McLaren, or Nicholas Latifi’s whether it is certainly Williams.
“That can only mean that he has got another seat secured somewhere else,” he added. “Where is he going to be driving? Is it McLaren? Is it Williams? Where does that leave Daniel Ricciardo? I am very unsure where that is going to happen.
“You have got this junior who is so highly rated on the back of what he has done in the junior categories and to sit him on the sidelines and now have him racing and invest all this testing in various different circuits. Putting him in a car was what Alpine had but obviously he feels he is going to be driving somewhere else.”
Source: www.impartial.co.uk