Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer is confident of keeping hold of Oscar Piastri despite the driver announcing he won't be at Alpine in 2023.
Earlier this month, the saga ignited when Fernando Alonso announced that he would be leaving the team at the end of 2022, to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel for Aston Martin. Alpine duly 'confirmed' that highly rated reserve-driver Piastri would be stepping up to replace him.
However, in an explosive twist, the Australian took to Twitter to deny that claim. Daniel Ricciardo has since confirmed he will be exiting McLaren when the season is over, leading to the widespread assumption that Piastri has agreed a deal to partner Lando Norris.
The team, who have bases in both England and France, are now preparing to go to the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board on Monday. There, they'll put forward their claim that Piastri is contractually obliged to represent them in 2023.
And, when asked about the prospects of winning the case Szafnauer, 58, was bullish in his reply: "Very. I have seen both sides of the argument and we are confident that Oscar signed with us back in November and there are certain things that need to be in the contract and I’m confident they’re in there," he told the F1 website.
He also took aim at Piastri's previous claim that Alpine missed the deadline of July 31 to exercise a clause in his current contract: "I rarely like to talk about details of driver contracts but two things I can say: one, there was no ‘by the 31st of July you have to do some things or therefore you can get on’ – there’s none of that," he continued.
"That 31st of July deadline that I read all the time is fictitious, it’s not in the contract that he signed. And the term of the contract, it is through 2024 with an option at the end of 23. So I’ll just say those things, but there’s a lot more in there. Like I said, I don’t really like to talk about specifics."
Piastri is a past Formula 2 and Formula 3 champion, but is yet to enter an F1 race. This was a point that Szafnauer raised last week when he also took a dig at the 21-year-old's apparent lack of loyalty.
"My wish for Oscar was that he had a bit more integrity as well," he said. "He signed a piece of paper as well back in November and we’ve done everything on our end to prepare him for F1."
Piastri's tweet which kicked off the bizarre dispute read "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."
That statement thrusts Alpine's plans into chaos. The team had expected the promotion of their reserve driver to be a formality after making it clear that he was their number one choice to replace Alonso.
The two-time world champion will start Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix fourth on the grid, benefiting from the grid penalties handed out to six drivers, including teammate Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman finished fifth, but will start 17th on the grid.
