Piastri's future has echoes from Formula One's past

LONDON : Oscar Piastri's shock rejection of Alpine's offer of a 2023 seat carries an echo of past Formula One bombshells, although none involving someone quite so young and inexperienced as the Australian.

Comparisons have been made to Benetton swooping on a young Michael Schumacher after one race with Jordan in 1991, or Jenson Button's 2004 contract mess when he tried to leave BAR for Williams.

It remains to be seen whether it is the result of cold calculation or confusion, or something altogether more intriguing.

Piastri, the 21-year-old Alpine reserve who last year won the Formula Two title at the first time of asking, has yet to take part on track in a grand prix weekend.

He was expected to seize the dream opportunity when it came along, a seat with a well-resourced and ambitious Renault-owned team who have already invested heavily in him.

Instead, he told Alpine he would not be driving for them.

The rebuttal was so firm and of such astonishing confidence from someone so unproven, and with so much at stake, that it can only be assumed he has already signed a deal with another F1 team - McLaren being the main suspects.

He has also been linked to Williams, however, although they are last in the standings and that would likely be only a stopgap switch.

Piastri's words came as a second big blow for Alpine, still reeling from the announcement on Monday that double world champion Fernando Alonso was decamping to Aston Martin at the end of the season.

Alpine had thought they could retain the Spaniard and park Piastri elsewhere for a season but are now in danger of ending up without either.

A faint irony of the situation, for historians of the sport, is that Aston Martin were Jordan in another existence while Benetton have morphed