Oscar Piastri 'smiled and was thankful' after being offered Fernando Alonso's seat for 2023 F1 season, says Alpine boss

Oscar Piastri's first reaction when told he was getting a seat for the 2023 F1 season was to smile and be grateful. These are the latest claims made by Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer. The Oscar Piastri-Alpine saga keeps getting more interesting by the day as Szafnauer has now revealed that the Australian was in the simulator when he was informed that he would be taking Fernando Alonso's place in the team next season.

Speaking to the media during the team principal's press conference, Alpine's team principal said:

“I told Oscar [Piastri] before the announcement was made. He happened to be in the simulator, so I went and found him, and he smiled and was thankful. We made the release very quickly.”

Szafnauer revealed that Oscar Piastri did not inform him that he would not race for Alpine next year. When asked how he found out about the young driver's decision not to drive for the team next year, Szafnauer replied:

“We heard through social media.”

Delving deeper into the contract details, the Alpine boss revealed that the term of the contract continued through the 2024 F1 season. He said:

“The term of the contract is through 2024 with an option at the end of ’23. I’ll just say those things, there’s a lot more in it. As I said, I don’t really like to talk about the specifics.”

The Contract Recognition Board's meeting on this matter will conclude on Monday. It is during this time that Alpine will decide what further action it wants to take on the matter. Szafneur said:

“The good news is we’ve got three races in a row now. I think we should wait for Monday or Tuesday, and then thereafter look at our situation having good information to make those decisions.”

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Alpine team principal questioned Oscar Piastri's integrity

Earlier in the week, Otmar Szafnauer had even said that he wished Oscar Piastri had a bit more integrity in the way he had gone about things. The Alpine boss, while speaking to Skysports F1, said:

“My wish for Oscar was he had a bit more integrity. He signed a bit of paper as well back in November and we’ve done everything on our end of the bargain to prepare him for Formula One and his end of the bargain was to either drive for us or take a seat where we would place him for the next three years. I just wish Oscar would have remembered what he signed in November, what he signed up to.’’

The saga is far from over and it will be interesting to see how things unfold next week.