Christian Horner says the contract drama surrounding Alpine junior Oscar Piastri should never have been allowed to happen, suggesting that something isn't right regarding the involved parties.
In the wake of the announcement of Fernando Alonso's shock transfer from Alpine to Aston Martin for 2023, the French outfit nominated Piastri – its official F1 reserve driver – as the Spaniard's replacement for next season.
However, the 21-year-old immediately rebuffed his current employer, claiming he was not contracted to Alpine for 2023 and that he would not be racing with the Enstone squad next year.
It then came to light that the young Aussie – whose career has been supported by Alpine since 2020 - had signed an agreement to drive for McLaren next season.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 on Friday at Spa, Horner suggested that something was amiss in the dealings involving Piastri and Alpine, which claims to have a valid contract with its driver for 2023, an assertion that will be verified next week by the FIA's Contract recognition Board.
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"Not being close to it, I don’t fully understand it because contractually that should just never happen," Horner said.
"If Renault or Alpine have invested into his junior career, they invest in youth because they are investing in it for the future and there obviously has to be an element of loyalty within that.
"I don’t understand contractually what’s going on there. But for him to even be in a position to think he doesn’t have to drive for Alpine next year obviously shows there’s something not right.
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"Hopefully it will get sorted. I mean, he’s another great young talent who drove for the Arden team [owned by Horner and his father Garry] in Formula 4, Formula Renault, so I know him pretty well and he’s a great talent that should be on the grid.
"But there’s probably been a bit more mess around his debut than there should be."
On the McLaren side, the Woking-based outfit has found itself embroiled in a driver litigation matter for the second time this season. Earlier this summer, it poached IndyCar champion Alex Palou from Chip Ganassi Racing for 2023, but like Alpine, the latter claims that it still has a right to the Spaniard's services for next season.
McLaren's recent dealings have led to some backlash on social media. McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown has yet to officially comment on his team's legal wranglings, but the American admits he could have done without the "noise".
"The image of McLaren is always very important to us," Brown said on Friday at Spa.
"I think we’re simply trying to put together the best driver line-ups in every single racing series that we compete in. We’re focused on total performance.
"I realise that it’s not without some noise. But hopefully we’ll get our programmes in place, our drivers in place, and we can get back to talking about going motor racing."
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