Alpine F1 team boss Otmar Szafnauer took an almighty swipe at Oscar Piastri, the rookie that famously defected to McLaren leaving the French team splattered in proverbial egg.
Thinking they had the highly-rated 21-year-old in the car alongside Esteban Ocon in 2023, after Fernando Alonso skipped to Aston Martin, only to find out the Aussie (managed by Mark Webber) had secured a drive with Zak Brown’s team.
What followed was a legal dispute in which, to cut a long story short, McLaren won and Alpine lost, meaning Piastri would kit up in Orange instead of Blue.
Clearly, the snub still hurts, as Szafanuer revealed when speaking to media last week: “I think species that collaborate, survive. Species that are selfish, perish. That’s true in history, and that might apply to F1, too. Let’s see what the future brings.”
The bitter episode may have given Alpine second thoughts on their driver development programme, after all, what is the point of investing heavily in a young promising driver to get them to the door of F1, only to have them do a runner?
Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi hinted that the programme could be affected by the Piastri-saga, but Szafnauer says SAlpine remain committed to their program to develop and promote up-and-coming talent.
He explained: “At the time, you look at everything. I think Laurent said that we’ve got to reconsider that if we spend this money and get drivers to a certain spot and they want to go elsewhere, should we really be doing this?
“That was something we looked at, but we definitely continue to be committed to the young driver programme and to the Alpine Academy,” insisted the team boss.
Otmar: I started in 1989 in Formula 1 and I’ve never seen anything like this
While the Piastri defection was happening, the Alpine team boss shed light on what the youngster’s departure meant for the team he rejected: “I expected more loyalty from Oscar than he is showing, and it’s not about Formula 1, it’s about integrity as a human being.
“He should have it with that team that has taken care of him, that has taken him to the World Championship and, above all, that during the last year has put him in a F1 car so that he would be ready, so he would know the circuits.
“It could happen in ice hockey or soccer, it doesn’t matter, but you don’t do that. He signed a piece of paper, a document, saying he would do something different.
“For me, the way I grew up, I don’t need to sign a piece of paper and then have someone say: You’re lying, because you signed this. For me, if you say: Hey, help me, I’ll help you tomorrow. There’s no way I would go back on my word. No way. I don’t need a piece of paper with a clause that says I can get out of here.
“We have to take into account that last year we put him in an F1 single-seater and he did 3,500 kilometres. We have done seven independent tests with him and this is not cheap at all. The cost of an engine alone is 1,750,000 euros. The mechanics, the team that managed those tests, the flights and travel…
“We spent lots and lots of money on Piastri to prepare him for the future…” concluded Szafnauer.
With Piastri and Alonso defecting away from the team, Alpine signed Pierre Gasly to partner Ocon in the sister car, making it an all-French driver line-up for the 2023 F1 season.
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