Alpine got to know about Oscar Piastri's McLaren contract way after July 4, reveals team principal

Alpine boss Otmar Szafneur has said that the team got to know about Oscar Piastri's McLaren's contract much later than July 4 - the day the two parties signed a two-year deal.

The Piastri-Alpine saga has captivated everyone. One of the biggest revelations is the fact that the two parties had a contract signed almost a month before the summer break.

While outgoing McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo was caught unawares that the Woking-based squad had a contract signed with Piastri, Alpine were also caught unawares.

During the team principal's press conference at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort last week, the Alpine boss was asked when the team became aware that Piastri had signed a contract with McLaren.

The Alpine boss said that they became aware much later about the July 4 signing. He said:

"So the question was about when did we learn about the Fourth of July signing? It was much later than Fourth of July, number one. And up until that point, it's just conjecture, really. We knew exactly what Oscar had signed with us and we were pursuing that."

The matter eventually went to F1's Contract Recognition Board (CRB), which met on August 29. Three days later, it ruled that it was McLaren and not Alpine who had a valid contract with the reigning F2 champion.

"And that’s the reason for pursuing it, up until the point where we got a written notification saying that ‘we can't drive for you’ and then we started investigating through the CRB," said Szafneur.

Alpine were asked to pay expenses of over £500,000. The Alpine-Piastri saga will arguably go down as a lesson for teams that have a junior driver programme on the need to have relevant clauses in the drivers' contracts.

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Alpine extend lead over McLaren at Dutch GP

Despite taking a big loss off the track, the Enstone-based team continued to extend their advantage over McLaren in the constructors' championship.

On a weekend where McLaren arguably had the quicker car, Alpine's combination of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso made their way through the field and scored solid points. Alonso (8) finished sixth, three places ahead of his teammate, who bagged two points.

McLaren, meanwhile, had an average race, as Lando Norris (6) finished behind Alonso in seventh, while Ricciardo scored no points.

Buoyed by another strong result, Szafneur was very happy and pointed out how strategy and the drivers played a key role in securing the result. He said:

"We're very pleased to extend our advantage in fourth place in the Constructors' Championship by scoring ten points in Zandvoort today. It was always going to be a tough task to progress both of our cars from twelfth and thirteenth on the grid into the points, but we've achieved just that after a very strong race across the board."

He continued:

"Our strategy was decisive, using our knowledge from Friday Practice about the Hard tyre, which allowed both cars to be in a position to score good points."

Alpine (125) have now extended their advantage over fifth-placed McLaren to 24 points. However, the French team are way behind McLaren (346), who trail Ferrari (376) and Red Bull (511).