Australia’s young gun racer Oscar Piastri has been centre to the F1’s latest controversy, but the next chapter of the story may involve Australia’s other headline act.
The talk of the Formula One world over the last 48 hours has been centred around young Australian driver and current Alpine junior, Oscar Piatsri.
After Fernando Alonso announced his departure from the french-based team earlier in the week, Piastri became an obvious candidate to step-up and join the team in which he had won three junior world championships for.
With Alpine being reportedly blindsided by Alonso’s shock announcement, the team moved quickly to snap up the services of the Aussie for next year.
Alpine officially announced that Piastri would indeed race for them in 2023 in an official statement, but this would come as a surprise to the Australian driver.
Piastri would swiftly respond on his social media accounts, claiming that not only has he not agreed a deal with Alpine for 2023, but that he will not race for them at all.
Many believed this to be an indicator that he had signed a deal with McLaren for 2023, leaving fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo potentially out of a seat for next year.
Ricciardo is contracted until the end of 2023, but his declining form at McLaren has left his future in doubt, prompting McLaren CEO, Zak Brown to confirm that Ricciardo has an option in his favour to leave in 2023.
Piastri has been linked with a potential move away from Alpine since the start of the season, when McLaren had reached an agreement to be able to use Piastri incase Ricciardo was not fit enough for the season opener in Bahrain.
Piastri’s agent and former Red Bull Racing driver, Mark Webber, has been very vocal about his displeasure in Alpine’s decision to not offer the Aussie a deal immediately after securing the F2 Championship.
All of this ultimately depends on if McLaren can reach an agreement with Ricciardo, and if the Honey Badger would be open to a move back to his former team at Alpine.
Ricciardo captured some of his career-best form at what was formerly known as Renault in 2020, finishing 5th in the driver’s standings and giving the team its first podium since 2012.
It would be a bitter-sweet ending for Ricciardo at McLaren, a relationship that promised so much and has failed to deliver for the majority of the experience.
Joining McLaren would be an opportunity for Piastri too good to refuse, linking up with Lando Norris in a car that has shown flashes of being a podium contender throughout the last two seasons.
The hope for all local F1 fans is that the 2023 grid will feature two Australians who are both in above average cars, capable of making some serious noise up the front of the grid.
