The driver transfers in F1 are like a stock market. Everyone wants the hottest stuff. Oscar Piastri’s heroics of taking it to social media and calling Alpine’s announcement premature made the French team look like a clown. The Frenchman’s transfer saga left both Alpine and McLaren in disarray. Despite the “Disloyalty”, the Alpine CEO isn’t ready to throw Piastri under the bus. Is there a reason why the Alpine Honcho is doing so?

Oscar Piastri was Alpine’s reserve driver for 2022 after winning the 2021 F2 championship. After Fernando Alonso’s shock move to Aston Martin, Piastri was expected to slot in for him. As a response to Aston Martin’s announcement, Alpine prematurely announced Piastri as their new driver without a contract in place. Little did they know that Piastri was already in contact with McLaren. Not only did they have to look for a new driver, but it also cost them upwards of $609K in legal costs.

Despite how all of this played out in McLaren’s favor, Alpine’s CEO Laurent Rossi was unwilling to accuse Piastri when speaking to the Beyond the Grid podcast. Rossi advised that Oscar could’ve been a little more mature in how the issue was dealt with. When asked about a possible reunion down the road, Rossi neither accepted nor denied the possibility of the same.

Rossi in Beyond the Grid Podcast said, “Look, I wouldn’t call drivers disloyal, to be honest,” “Now, there are probably ways to do it. I would have not necessarily prevented Oscar from leaving should he have come to us with something a bit more structured that says, ‘Hey guys, I’m also having this offer. What do we do? Can we talk?’. When asked about a possible reunion he said, “If down the road the opportunity arises, I’m not saying no, I’m not saying yes. We’ll see.”

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With McLaren finishing and qualifying dead last and Piastri retiring early on during the 2023 Bahrain GP, Rossi might not be showing it, but he is the one who gets to laugh. McLaren’s dreaded performance might be the reason Rossi wasn’t harsh on Piastri.

Can Oscar Piastri and McLaren bounce back after the Bahrain sorrow?

The only positive for McLaren and Piastri is that Norris qualified for P11 for the Bahrain GP. Even though they fell back in the race with Norris making what looked like an infinite number of pit stops, the raw pace is there or thereabout. McLaren needs to focus on how to make the car stable under braking and acceleration, cause that’s what looks like the problem.

Piastri is an F2 World Champion and a good driver. It is still early days for him at McLaren. With an excellent driver like Lando Norris as a teammate, Piastri has a lot to learn and live up to. McLaren has the knowledge and resources and knows very well how to build a championship-winning car. But with the budget cap and limited wind tunnel testing, it seems unlikely that they will make it back to the top of the midfield.

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Do you think Piastri will outperform his car this year? Is he willing to put his ego aside and move back to Alpine in case McLaren fails?