Alpine F1 'over 90% certain' to go to court over Oscar Piastri fiasco

Alpine are reportedly planning to seek compensation from their reserve driver Oscar Piastri at the London High Court. Piastri had earlier denied having signed a contract with Alpine for the 2023 season, despite the team's public confirmation of the same.

Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer reportedly told Reuters that his team is set to enter a legal battle over the matter. He said:

“Going to the High Court is over 90% certain that’s what we’ll do. If the CRB (F1’s Contract Recognition Board) says ‘your licence is only valid at Alpine’, and then he (Piastri) says ‘that’s great but I’m never driving for them, I’ll just sit out a year’, then you’ve got to go to the High Court for compensation. We haven’t sat down with the accountants to figure out everything we’ve spent. We will have to do that if we go to the High Court.”

As reported by PlanetF1, the American admitted that he expected "more loyalty" from Oscar Piastri, whose career leading up to F1 has been sported by Alpine. He said:

“We have a contract with Piastri which he signed in November. We have spoken to our lawyers and they have told us this is a binding contract, so part of that contract allows us to put Oscar in one of our cars in 2023, which is the reason we issued the press release.”

“I expected more loyalty from Piastri. He should have it with the team that has taken care of him, that during the last year has put him in a Formula 1 car so he would be ready, so he would know the circuits. I expected more loyalty from Oscar than he is showing. I started in 1989 in Formula 1 and I’ve never seen anything like this. And it’s not about Formula 1, it’s about integrity as a human being. There should be some loyalty to the fact we have invested literally millions and millions of euros to prepare him. So I don’t understand it.”

After Fernando Alonso confirmed that he will be replacing Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin in 2023, Alpine announced that Oscar Piastri would be driving for the team next season to partner Esteban Ocon. Rumors, however, suggest that a deal between McLaren and the Formula 2 champion is in the works after Piastri confirmed that he will not be driving for Alpine in 2023.

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Alpine open to Daniel Ricciardo as an alternative to Oscar Piastri

Daniel Ricciardo, who raced for Renault in 2019 and 2020, may still be in contention for a seat in Alpine despite having raced for the team before.

Using Fernando Alonso's journey as an example, when asked about the prospects of Ricciardo returning to the team, Szafnauer said:

“I mean, if you look at Fernando, for example, he comes and goes, and I think that happens to other drivers too. And I don’t think that’s an issue at all. I think what we need to focus on is, like I say, the plans that we have for the next 89-88 races.”

“We’ve got to make sure that we complement that plan with the best driver that we can, and there are some options out there for us. And we put the best driver in next to Esteban [Ocon], so that we can move forward towards what we’ve been planning.”

Speculations suggest that Oscar Piastri is set to replace the eight-time Grand Prix winner in 2023.