Alpine laid claim to the Australian, but Piastri has said he will not drive for them. Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said he was “very confident Oscar signed with us back in November”. “It is the logical next step when you believe you have a valid contract with the driver and he wants to go somewhere else,” Szafnauer said. Alpine put out a statement on 3 August saying Piastri would drive for them in 2023, only for the 21-year-old to say on Twitter an hour later that the statement was unauthorised and he would not be racing for the team. Asked why he did not get a quote from Piastri for the statement, Szafnauer said he and the team had wanted to act fast. He said he learned that Piastri did not want to drive for them “from social media”.

Follow MotorMouth on social media:

• 
• 
• 
•