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Alpine believes it is ‘legally correct’ with Piastri announcement
Alpine says it believes it is “legally correct” in its position having announced Oscar Piastri as one of its race drivers for 2023, despite the Australian refuting the claim.
Piastri was announced as Fernando Alonso’s replacement on Tuesday afternoon, despite Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer having admitted earlier in the day that there was some uncertainty over the Australian’s future due to negotiations with McLaren. After Alpine’s announcement -- that did not include a quote from Piastri -- the 21-year-old rejected the team’s stance, stating he will not race for it in 2023.
When contacted by RACER about the relative positions, an Alpine spokesperson said: “We believe we are legally correct in our statement, but don’t have anything further to say.”
The Alpine announcement remains across its social media channels.
The similarities are striking between the F1 situation and the dispute between Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing and McLaren over the Spaniard’s future. Court documents have been filed in the IndyCar example, with Ganassi having claimed it legally has a contract with Palou but the defending champion stating he has signed an agreement with McLaren and will not be staying next year.
There has so far been no official comment from McLaren on the situation, with the stand-off between Piastri and Alpine calling into question Daniel Ricciardo’s future with the team. Ricciardo also has a contract for 2023, and had told RACER in Budapest that he is definitely going to be with the team next season.
Presented by:
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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