Damon Hill thinks Oscar Piastri might have made a mistake by leaving Alpine for a race seat with their rivals McLaren.
The Aussie was at the centre of the main story of Formula 1 'silly season' last year. As an Alpine junior he was immediately given a race seat when Fernando Alonso announced he would be leaving for Aston Martin, but it wasn't long before the Formula 2 champion caused a stir on social media.
Just a few minutes later he posted that he would not be racing for Alpine. As it turned out, he had already penned a deal with McLaren in secret to join them this year and, after a legal battle, it was confirmed that he would be replacing Daniel Ricciardo.
With McLaren one of the top midfield sides for several years, the highly-rated young driver might have been expecting to score points straight away. But Piastri and Lando Norris are both pointless after the first two races of the year.
The MCL60 is much less competitive than the team would have liked. And, to make matters worse, the Woking-based outfit have also been suffering some reliability problems – while Alpine have started steadily with eight points shared equally between Esteban Ocon and his new team-mate Pierre Gasly.
Given the current situation, 1996 world champion Hill thinks Piastri might be regretting making the switch. "He probably thought McLaren was the best option, the better environment for him," said the Brit, as per the Dutch edition of Motorsport.com.
"Alpine is good at the moment – they don't set the world on fire, but they look more competitive than McLaren. So yes, maybe he does regret that. But on the other hand, he is now competing against the highly-rated Lando.
"It's a strange thing in our sport, that as a driver you are judged on your performance against your teammate. You can be in a less competitive car, but all you need is to be faster than a man who some say is a future world champion."
Piastri is responsible for the main highlight – of very few – for McLaren so far this season. He made it through to Q3 to go ninth fastest in qualifying, but both he and Norris had their races ruined on the first lap when debris came off the Australian's car which flew into his team-mate's front wing.
