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Formula 1 can be a cutthroat world, where drivers are often on the move and contracts can be tricky to navigate. This was recently exemplified by the 2022 saga between Alpine, Oscar Piastri and McLaren.
Piastri publicly turned down Alpine’s offer for a 2023 race seat due to the fact that he had already signed an agreement with McLaren to replace fellow Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo.
The situation escalated to F1’s Contract Recognition Board, which ultimately ruled that Piastri’s only valid contract for the 2023 season was with McLaren, as all Alpine had was a term sheet with the driver. At the time, Alpine was not happy with the situation, but seven months later, CEO Laurent Rossi opened up about the situation.
“I wouldn’t call drivers disloyal, to be honest,” said Rossi on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
“They also have their own careers to manage, and God knows it’s a difficult one, because there’s really few of them. And it’s ferocious, as you said. And they don’t have an easy one, right?”
Rossi acknowledged that drivers need to manage their own interests, but also stated that there are ways to handle contract negotiations more professionally.
“I would have not necessarily prevented Oscar from leaving should he have come to us with something a bit more structured.
“Let’s say, ‘hey guys, I’m also having this offer, what do we do? Can we talk?’
“It just caught us by surprise. I guess it also caught Ricciardo by surprise, which says a lot, right?”
Moving on
Despite the disappointment with Piastri, Rossi has moved forward and is excited about the team’s current driver, Pierre Gasly.
When asked if he would consider welcoming Piastri back to Alpine if he expressed interest, Rossi believes that signing former Red Bull driver Gasly as Esteban Ocon’s new teammate has left Alpine in a better position.
“We’re better off with Pierre now, so why would we want anything else? I’m fine with that,” he said.
“If down the road, the opportunity arises, I’m not saying no, I’m not saying yes, we’ll see when we get there.”
The Frenchman admits that the incident with Piastri has taught Alpine some valuable lessons about contract negotiations and loyalty in Formula 1.
“We learned a lot, to be honest, and we’d be foolish not to learn from that,” Rossi stated.
“We learnt a couple of things, I would say there’s no such thing as loyalty, especially when individual interests are at stake.
“It’s like your kids have a contract, you’re the parents. But it’s the way it is. You never expect your kids to leave the bedroom one night and never show up again. And you certainly wouldn’t put locks in contracts – we’re forced to do that a bit.”
It may seem unfair and disloyal of Piastri to have jumped ship to a direct rival, however in the eyes of the emerging talent in motorsport, if Fernando Alonso hadn’t left to join Aston Martin, Alpine would’ve kept the 21-year-old on the sidelines for yet another year. Although, with hindsight maybe Piastri’s was a tad rash, considering McLaren looks like it’s going to be having a very long Formula 1 season.