Oscar Piastri is the "number one preferred candidate" to fill Fernando Alonso's seat after his move to Aston Martin, according to Alpine chief Otmar Szafnauer.
But it might not be so simple, he also admitted. The Australian is the team's reserve driver and has a contract which extends beyond the current season, but due to the uncertainty about his 2023 plans his mentor and manager Mark Webber has been setting up other options.
And one of those is with McLaren, amid reports that Webber has been pushing for the Piastri to take the place of the struggling Daniel Ricciardo. Szafnauer revealed he has been trying to get in contact with Webber ever since learning about Alonso's impending departure through the press release which made the move public.
"This just happened on Monday – it's now Tuesday, his manager is in Australia, there's a bit of a time difference," he told Autosport . "But I've been trying to get hold of Mark and wrote some text messages and some emails to him, as well. So give us a bit of time. Oscar is our number one preferred candidate. And that's what we're going to do."
Reports claim Webber was working on deals to place Piastri with either McLaren or Williams for the 2023 season in a loan-style deal. Alpine were under the impression that they would agree a contract extension with Alonso, but now they have a seat free they would prefer to keep the F2 champion in-house.
And Szafnauer sounded as though he was ready to go to war with Webber if he tries to take the young Australian elsewhere after "a significant amount of investment" from the Enstone outfit. "I'm not privy to whatever pre-arrangements he has with McLaren, if any at all," the Alpine chief added.
"But I hear the same rumours that you do in the pitlane. But what I do know is that he does have contractual obligations to us. And we do to him. And we've been honouring those obligations all year.
"Those obligations last through '23, and possibly in '24, if some options are taken up. And our obligations to him this year was to be a reserve driver, to also put him in last year's car for a significant amount of time. We're well over half that programme of 5000 kilometres, which isn't insignificant, in last year's car, in preparation for a race next year.
"Also FP1s, simulation work, and we've been performing those obligations on both sides. So he's been performing, we've been performing. So therefore we do have a legal contract with him into the future for '23. And if an option is taken up, for '24. So I don't know what he's done with McLaren. Like I said, I'm not privy to that."
