Otmar Szafnauer, boss of the French team, did not want to comment too much on the possibility of Fernando Alonso continuing in Alpine for one more year… and again mentions the quality of Oscar Piastri.
Will Fernando Alonso continue at Alpine in the 2023 Formula 1 season? Or, instead, will Alpine prefer to have the young Oscar Piastri? When Otmar Szafnauer, boss of the French team, was asked about next year’s driver line-up, the Romanian did not want to give many details… but he did praise Piastri.
The Australian, as we have been reminded on many occasions, deserves a place in Formula 1 next year. In the last three seasons, the driver who has Mark Webber as manager, has been champion of Formula Renault, Formula 3 and Formula 2, and is currently a tester for Alpine, which has allowed him to learn how a team in the category works Queen.
Alpine wants Piastri to be on the F1 grid next season, either with them (that would mean Alonso does not follow) or with another structure to which he leaves on loan. There has been talk that he could start his adventure in the series with Williams, but that may imply a technical agreement between Alpine (Renault) and Williams..
In case of not providing him with a starting seat in the championship, Piastri could decide to go to another team and leave Alpine for good. The Australian is believed to be (or has been) in talks with McLaren, where he is unsurprisingly dissatisfied with Daniel Ricciardo over lack of results.
For Alpine, in any case, the main option should be to continue with Alonso for at least one more year, since the Spaniard has once again shown that he is in excellent form and that, if he has not achieved better results this year, it is because the structure has prevented it with strategy errors, reliability failures or problems in the pits.
“We have not yet made a decision on the second driver for next season,” Szafnauer told the Speedweek website.
“Oscar has the potential to be in Formula 1. He has been with us since this year and attends all the meetings with the engineers. And most importantly, he has helped develop the car. I have no doubt that he is ready to race in Formula 1. F1,” he added.
As for Alonso, Szafnauer did not want to give too many details about the possibility of him continuing: “I was not in the team when they signed Fernando, but I can see that here he has the environment, the atmosphere, the employees and the car that he needs” .
Alonso, for his part, pointed out again in Austria that he has not yet sat down to talk about the renewal with Alpine and that he will do so in the summer, since until then he wants to focus on racing. “This July we have four races and I need to score points because at the beginning of the year I haven’t had any luck,” he said.