According to Zak Brown, Oscar Piastri was ‘bullied’ by the Alpine team in the lead-up to his Formula 1 debut with McLaren. Before being snapped up by the papayas in 2023, the Australian was part of Alpine’s training program. The French were eager to offer him a seat, as evidenced by a misplaced message on social media. Brown now condemns the soap opera surrounding Piastri.
At the end of 2022, there was confusion about the future of Oscar Piastri. The young Australian had won titles in both Formula 3 and Formula 2 and was heading for a debut in the premier class. At that time, he was part of Alpine, which wanted to give him a Formula 1 seat after the sudden departure of Fernando Alonso. It wasn’t long before the team announced on social media that Piastri had signed a contract with the French racing stable.
However, Piastri immediately denied that message: “This is not true, I have not signed a contract,” he stated. “I will not drive for Alpine.” Shortly thereafter, McLaren CEO Zak Brown did manage to secure Piastri – the rest is history. The incident is often referred to, especially now that Piastri is competing with McLaren in the championship, while Alpine is struggling again – both on the track and behind the scenes.
‘It was used to bully him’
In a conversation with Mail Sport, Brown discussed how he looks back on the drama surrounding Piastri. “Daniel Ricciardo had until the GP of Monaco in 2022 to prove himself,” the American explained. “When that didn’t work out, Oscar (Piastri) became high on our list. He was not only our reserve driver, but we also had a good relationship with Mark Webber, who was coaching him at the time. Moreover, he already had an impressive career behind him – he won titles in his first years in the training classes.”
At the same time, Lando Norris was doing great, so we could afford to bring in a young, new driver,” he continued. “We then contracted Oscar (Piastri) in stages.” The then Alpine team boss, Otmar Szafnauer, assumed that Piastri’s future in Enstone was already sealed, which explains the controversial press release. “He only discovered later that Piastri was not as secure as he had thought,” said Brown.
“But if you want to compete, you have to evaluate everything properly,” he said sternly. “Perhaps Alpine should have looked at it more closely.” Brown has little sympathy for the way the French handled Piastri at the time. “Their press release, stating that he would get a Formula 1 seat in 2023, didn’t even include a quote from him,” he added. “They hadn’t even consulted him. They put out that statement as if it was a done deal. It was used to bully him and make him do what they wanted.”
