Alpine nonetheless hopes the youthful Australian will slot into the seat vacated by Fernando Alonso, and believes it has a legitimate contract to that impact.
The crew introduced on Tuesday afternoon that Piastri will drive in 2023, however shortly afterwards the Australian took to social media to disclaim that was the case.
Piastri is known to have agreed a deal to go to McLaren at a time when it appeared like his solely choice to race in 2023 was if Alpine loaned him to Williams, an association that he and supervisor Mark Webber didn’t need to pursue.
The sudden availability of the Alonso seat has difficult issues for all events.
Ought to Piastri win any upcoming authorized tussle and find yourself going to McLaren then Alpine must look exterior to switch him.
Szafnauer famous that following Monday’s announcement of Alonso’s transfer to Aston Martin he had already “fielded a bunch of calls from different potential drivers.”
If Ricciardo is ousted from McLaren to make method for Piastri, as a a number of race winner he’ll probably be probably the most engaging choices available on the market, regardless of his latest patchy kind for the Woking outfit.
The issue is that having been employed by the then Renault organisation at nice expense to guide the crew into the long run Ricciardo determined early in his second season in 2020 to leap ship and be a part of McLaren for 2021.
That call didn’t go down effectively within the Renault camp, and whereas the crew administration has modified – with Cyril Abiteboul gone with Szafnauer and Laurent Rossi now on the helm – it may nonetheless be a problem.
Certainly, it’s understood that Renault Group boss Luca de Meo was particularly pissed off by Ricciardo’s departure.
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
Picture by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Nevertheless when requested about Ricciardo by Motorsport.com, Szafnauer in contrast the state of affairs with Alonso’s skill to return to groups, and insisted the precedence was to search out the suitable drivers to assist the crew with its 100-race plan of attending to the entrance of the sphere.
“I imply, should you take a look at Fernando, for instance, he comes and goes, and I believe that occurs to different drivers too,” he stated.
“And I do not assume that is a problem in any respect. I believe what we have to concentrate on is, like I say, the plans that we have now for the following 89-88 races.
“We have got to guarantee that we complement that plan with one of the best driver that we will, and there are some choices on the market for us. And we put one of the best driver in subsequent to Esteban [Ocon], in order that we will transfer ahead in the direction of what we have been planning.”
Talking earlier than Piastri’s social media assertion, Szafnauer additionally insisted the crew may work with the teen ought to he finally be confirmed within the seat, regardless of the potential harm completed to the connection by his try to maneuver to McLaren.
He in contrast the state of affairs to that at BAR when Jenson Button gave the impression to be going to Williams for 2005, however finally remained with the Brackley crew following a authorized battle.
“I have been round lengthy sufficient the place I’ve seen this sort of factor really play out and occur,” he stated.
“When Jenson signed with Williams and ended up at British American Racing Honda, should you bear in mind these days, there was completely no challenge. I imply, I do know Oscar is completely different from Jenson. Hopefully we do not have to go down that route, anyway.
“However your presumption was, oh, a driver needs to go someplace else. So hopefully that is not the case. However I’ve seen it the place a driver really signed with one other crew incorrectly, so needed to drive for the crew that he initially signed with.
“And it was completely no challenge. Jenson on the time did a stellar job at BAR, and by no means ended up at Williams.”
Podium: Second place Juan Pablo Montoya, McLaren; Race winner Fernando Alonso, Renault and third place Jenson Button, BAR
Picture by: Sutton Pictures
