Oscar Piastri denies that he will race for Alpine next year – just hours after they announced that he would replace Fernando Alonso

Oscar Piastri has said that he has not agreed to race for the Alpine F1 team next season – just hours after the team announced him for 2023.

The young Australian, who came through the Alpine/Renault academy and won last year’s Formula 2 title, is currently the team’s reserve driver after they were unable to find him a drive for this season.

But after Fernando Alonso shockingly announced he would be leaving Alpine for Aston Martin on Monday, it was expected that Piastri would replace him, and on Tuesday evening the team announced just that.

‘2023 driver line-up confirmed: Esteban Ocon and Oscar Piastri’, the team’s Twitter account posted.

‘After four years as part of the Renault and Alpine family, Reserve Driver Oscar Piastri is promoted to a race seat alongside Esteban Ocon starting from 2023.’

However less than two hours after that announcement, Piastri tweeted: ‘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.’

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>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.

Piastri was understood to have been annoyed at not getting a drive for 2022 and part of his contract with Alpine is said to contain a release clause if they did not give him one for next season, either at Alpine or on loan to another team.

Throughout the season, he has been linked with a loan move to Williams but he is said to be