F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Alonso 'surprised' by Piastri's rejection of Alpine F1 race seat

Fernando Alonso admitted he was surprised by Oscar Piastri's rejection of his promotion to an F1 race seat with Alpine for 2023.

The highly rated young Australian was announced by Alpine as Alonso's successor in the wake of the news of the latter's move to Aston Martin next year.

But Piastri unexpectedly dismissed his employer's offer, stating in no uncertain terms in a message on social media that he was not contracted to Alpine for 2023 nor would he ever be.

The former FIA F3 and F2 champion is believed to have signed up to race with McLaren next year, but Alpine is disputing its reserve driver's stance, a conflict that will be addressed next week by the FIA's Contract Recognition Board.

"It’s difficult to comment," said Alonso, who rubbished earlier this week rumors that he, along with his manager Flavio Briatore and Piastri's manager Mark Webber had colluded to disrupt Alpine's driver line-up for 2023.

"Obviously everyone was surprised and I was. But I think it’s not up to me to comment on this.

"It’s more to the team because I don’t know how exactly is the situation. But I was surprised, yes."

Addressing par of the reasons for his unanticipated transfer to Aston Martin, Alonso reiterated his belief that Alpine failed to give him the impression that he was being wanted by the French outfit, contrary to the feeling that transpired in his talks with Aston Martin.

"We were moving around in different things and we were not maybe agreeing on the principals," he said.

"It’s not only what you agree in terms of duration of the contract, it is also the trust that you feel and how you feel wanted in a place, you know and if it was just a temporary thing or facts on a timed watch that they are happy with.

"It was always a strange feeling and, as I said, I felt like it was the right decision to move to Aston because they seemed to really want me and appreciate every performance I put in in the last few years."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Marko: ‘No chance at all’ for Red Bull in Las Vegas

Helmut Marko believes that Red Bull and Max Verstappen are unlikely to challenge for victory…

3 hours ago

GM revives bid to join F1 with accelerated talks for 2026 entry

Automotive giant General Motors is reportedly back in the game as a potential entrant in…

5 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

6 hours ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

7 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

8 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

9 hours ago