Zak Brown reignites the Piastri saga, mocking Alpine’s misstep, while Otmar Szafnauer pushes back, defending his role in the fallout.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has once again taken a shot at Alpine for letting go of Oscar Piastri, a driver now considered one of the brightest talents in Formula 1.
Back in 2022, Piastri was Alpine’s reserve and development driver. The team failed to secure him with a full-time contract, and McLaren swooped in. That move has since paid off, as the young Australian has quickly become a standout on the grid.
The turning point came in August 2022 when Piastri made headlines by publicly denying Alpine’s announcement that he would replace Fernando Alonso. Instead, he revealed he was joining McLaren, catching the French team completely off guard. Alpine believed they had him under contract and took the case to the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board. The ruling favored McLaren, confirming Piastri was a free agent.
At the time, then-team principal Otmar Szafnauer criticized Piastri’s “lack of integrity.” Brown, on the other hand, offered Piastri a multi-year deal and has since extended it—proof of McLaren’s belief in his potential.
Now that McLaren is competing at the front, Brown didn’t hold back. He mocked Alpine again for missing out on what he calls “the next Lando Norris.”
“We helped Lando develop into the star he is today, and we saw Oscar as the next one,” Brown said. “Alpine completely dropped the ball. Thanks, Otmar.”
“Oscar has been phenomenal, and now we’ve got two incredibly competitive drivers.”
The situation was undoubtedly a mess for Alpine, especially for Szafnauer and then-CEO Laurent Rossi. Two years later, Szafnauer is pushing back, saying he’s been unfairly blamed for the whole saga.
“After his F2 championship, Alpine had an agreement with Oscar that included an option to bring him into F1. That option was never formally executed,” Szafnauer explained.
“There was a two-week deadline in November, and it was missed. The CRB ruled against Alpine because of a procedural mistake. After that, the team released a press statement that included my photo.”
“I wasn’t even at the team when the initial contract was drafted. Yet somehow I became the face of the failure,” he added. “It was the communications team—not under my control—trying to cover up others’ incompetence by putting my name and photo out there.”
Szafnauer concluded by saying the whole episode showed that some people at Alpine weren’t trustworthy and worked against him internally, which ultimately harmed the team’s cohesion.
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Brown Mocks Alpine Again Over Piastri Contract Blunder Brown Mocks Alpine Again Over Piastri Contract Blunder
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