Oscar Piastri recalls 'pretty tense' public Alpine F1 seat rejection

Oscar Piastri has recalled his "pretty tense" public rejection of an Alpine F1 seat for the 2023 season, which saw his move to McLaren referred to the FIA's Contract Recognition Board (CRB).

The Australian driver was signed to Renault's/Alpine's junior programme for the 2020 season after winning the Formula Renault Eurocup title, before securing the F3 and F2 championships in back-to-back campaigns.

For 2022, after securing the F2 title the previous year, Piastri was without a race seat and had to spend a full campaign on the sidelines as Alpine's F1 reserve.

It was a difficult year for Piastri, who had to adjust to not racing and instead watching from the Alpine garage.

Speaking on F1's Off The Grid video, Piastri said: "It was certainly a tough time. Naturally, as a racing driver, you want to go racing.

"That year, not racing was tough, definitely. It did allow me to view some things from the outside a little bit easier: being part of a weekend, understanding what media commitments are going to be like, what the sponsor commitments are going to be like, just the general rhythm of the season. I learned a few things about that, but it was a tough time.

"I always kind of took pride in the fact that I was doing everything that I could, and I was always confident that something would come up."

Piastri's social media statement

For Piastri, an opportunity did arise: the chance to race for McLaren in 2023. However, before this was announced in mid-2022, Alpine released a statement saying it would promote the 24-year-old to a race seat for the following season.

It resulted in one of the most famous social media posts by an F1 driver in recent history, as Piastri stated on various platforms: "I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. 

"This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year."

Ultimately, it was soon discovered that a deal with McLaren had already been signed, with the CRB finding no reason to block the move.

Reflecting on his social media post, Piastri, with a smile on his face, knew it would blow up and now looks back on it "with some laughs."

"I kind of knew that it was going to be a pretty big story," noted Piastri. "There were reasons for doing that, it wasn't just me going out of my ways to announce to the world that I'm not racing.

"I mean, I certainly look back on it now with some laughs. Definitely at the time, it wasn't so funny.

"It obviously went to the CRB. Things were in my favour, but that was another pretty tense moment."