Oscar Piastri says Alpine-McLaren F1 drama ‘bizarre and frankly upsetting’

McLaren’s new Australian signing, Oscar Piastri, has opened up on how upset he was to be falsely announced as a driver for Alpine amid the legal wrangle between the two teams.

And the 21-year-old has acknowledged it was “unfortunate” that the driver he’s replaced at McLaren should happen to be one of his heroes, fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo.

In an interview with the official F1 site, Piastri, unveiled by McLaren as Ricciardo’s 2023 replacement on Friday, also revealed a “bizarre and frankly upsetting episode” involving Alpine team principal Otmar Sfaznauer.

Piastri said he had been in the simulator when Sfaznauer told him he was going to be announced as an Alpine driver from the 2023 season.

According to Sfaznauer, Piastri just “smiled and was thankful”. But Piastri told F1: “That was a bizarre and frankly upsetting episode.

“It was done publicly in front of some members of the team who were oblivious to the situation [regarding his contract talks with McLaren] and I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of them,” Piastri said.

“Once we were in private, I told Otmar what our position was and what he had been told multiple times before that.

“To have that falsely announced was something my management and I felt we had to correct and there was also potential legal implications if we didn’t deny the announcement,” added Piastri, who subsequently announced on social media he wouldn’t be driving for Alpine.

Piastri said there had been a lack of clarity from Alpine and a “breakdown in trust” with the French team, which prompted his decision to leave the team which was employing him as a reserve driver.

He felt his future was uncertain as the team were discussing a contract extension with double world champion Fernando