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Alpine expects reserve driver and rising star Oscar Piastri to be on the Formula One grid as soon as the 2023 season, team boss Otmar Szafnauer said Saturday ahead of qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix.
However, Szafnauer didn’t clarify exactly which team the 21-year-old Australian would be driving with.
Piastri is on a meteoric rise in the sport, having won the Formula Three championship in 2020 and the F2 title in his first attempt last season. His steady performance earned him a position as the reserve drive at Alpine in 2022, behind two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
When asked at the Canadian Grand Prix whether he thought Piastri would be racing in F1 next year, Szafnauer replied: “Yes.”
He added: “We don’t talk about the details of our contracts with the drivers and that’s something that we never do. So as much as I’d like to tell you, I don’t think I can. But when I do say yes, that’s the plan.
“We’re contracted with Oscar, we have some options on him, so there’s no real need to hurry that. So we’ll take our time and at the right moment within the silly season, we’ll have a look around and make those types of decisions.”
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Moving up the ladder at Alpine would be a difficult ask for Piastri. Ocon is under contract with the team until 2024 and Alonso, 40, is considered to be the favorite to remain in the second seat despite his contract being up at the end of the year. Both drivers have been steady through the first eight races of the 2022 season, with Ocon scoring 31 points and Alonso netting 16.
Although landing a spot at Alpine may be out of the question, Piastri could find an opportunity for a seat elsewhere. Among the possibilities is Williams, where Alex Albon has performed well and is expected to stay on with the last-place team on the grid, but the future of Nicholas Latifi is considered more uncertain.
When asked about Piastri, Williams boss Jost Capito said: “Oscar for sure is ready to go into F1. I think he’s one on the list for sure.”
Latifi has yet to score in 2022 and hasn’t finished above 15th in any race this season. Even so, Capito revealed that he doesn’t plan on changing the team’s driver line-up midway through the year.
“We have got contracts for this year,” he said. “We stick to our drivers and we are convinced Nicky will find the confidence in the car through the season and his results will be better.”
