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SPECULATION MAY LINK PIASTRI AWAY FROM ALPINE

By Timothy Neal

Following the shock news that Fernando Alonso will jump ship to Aston Martin, the dots would seem to connect Piastri with Alpine, but industry speculation suggests that Piastri may well be heading to another team and that the deal was done before Alonso left.

With recent talk that Alonso and Alpine were only “a ten minute talk” off doing a deal, the Spaniard’s swift shifting of teams could have left a smokey trail in the wake of his leaving. 

Alpine could well be dirty on the loss of Alonso, especially if the speculation of a deal linking Piastri to another team is true, and that the deal had already been done so with the confidence of Alonso staying on.

Mark Webber’s JAM Sports Management, Piastri’s representation, was pushing Alpine for Piastri to have a seat deal done by the F1’s season break, a probable July 30 deadline, whether that seat would be at Alpine or on loan elsewhere.

If a loan deal has been done, it would have been made to keep Piastri on the books, as has been previously stated as the preferred intent by Alpine’s Team management, but appeasing the need to get him a drive for next year.

So if Piastri is not driving at Alpine next year, where could he be headed?

Williams and McLaren have been the teams raised most in proposition with Piastri’s future whereabouts.

So is McLaren the defining factor behind the rumours?

Mclaren’s Daniel Ricciardo has also had a publicly uncomfortable time of late, and although he is signed with McLaren for another season, it isn’t out of the possibility that he could find another seat for next season given the sudden shuffling… potentially at Alpine?

With Piastri already having close ties with McLaren, it would make him a logical fit for the hungry and developing team, who’s bosses have not been hesitant in airing their laundry in regard to their displeasure of how this season is panning out.

A Williams deal has already been a speculative proposition this season, and with Latifi struggling behind the wheel, despite the glimmer of topping the third practice session at the Hungaroring, the talk of the Piastri connection has not gone away as a place to put the ace on a one year training deal.

In what may now seem as unlikely, should Piastri stay at Alpine, he and Esteban Ocon could form the perfect pairing for a team that has a lot of upside. 

For all the talk of Alonso’s great form, Ocon sits above Alonso in the drivers standing’s having made point finishes in10 races this season, and finishing above his teammate on eight occasions.

Ocon has also been very public in regards to his esteem for Piastri’s attitude and preparation around the team.

At the end of the day, the boy from Brighton is an unbelievable prospect, having won in anything that he puts his backside in, including winning three titles in a row: the 2019 Renault Eurocup title, the F3 Championship, and then the F2 in his rookie season.

Only George Russell and Charles Leclerc have achieved the same F2-F3 feat, with both drivers also doing it back-to-back. 

Piastri sits amongst much hyped, proven, and talented company in achieving that same feat, and by next season he’ll certainly be sitting in a similar class of hardware…we just don’t know where.

For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action.