Alpine CEO “wouldn’t say no” to an Oscar Piastri reunion despite previous accusations of chopping off “the hand that fed him”

Now that the dust has settled, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi "wouldn't say no" to Oscar Piastri returning, and sees no need to "hold a grudge".

Alpine CEO “wouldn’t say no” to an Oscar Piastri reunion despite previous accusations of chopping off “the hand that fed him”

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi (L) | Oscar Piastri (R)

Oscar Piastri left Alpine in rather thunderous fashion. The team had announced him as their replacement for Fernando Alonso, but he publicly announced his intention to not drive for the French team. Apparently, the Australian did not agree with the team’s plans to send him to Williams on loan. It soon came out that he had been in talks with McLaren to replace Daniel Ricciardo there.

The matter went in front of the Contract Recognition Board (CRB) – where Piastri’s McLaren contract, signed on July 4, was deemed the only valid one. It was a very controversial affair, and Alpine’s CEO, Laurent Rossi, and team principal, Otmar Szafnauer, both publicly talked about Piastri’s perceived “lack of loyalty”. Rossi even accused Piastri of chopping off “the hand that fed him”. But ultimately, he’s now at McLaren.

Unfortunately for him, Piastri’s first race with McLaren ended in a rather early retirement. This, combined with the disappointing pace shown by the Woking team, means there are some concerns that the Australian made the wrong choice. But at the same time, the weekend definitely was not perfect for Alpine either. While a move back to Alpine won’t be on the Australian’s bucket list already, it seems that the team aren’t as opposed to it as one may have predicted.

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And while many may expect the French team to ‘hold a grudge’ over this, it’s apparently not the case. When asked if Piastri would be welcome at Alpine, Rossi said on the Beyond the Grid podcast: “We’ll see when we get there. But there’s no need to hold a grudge. It’s like, it’s destroying you and destroying the things you want to do.” and added: “If down the road the opportunity arises, I’m not saying no, I’m not saying yes. We’ll see.”

Read More: Oscar Piastri is hopeful to live up to expectations in his F1 debut season with “no extra pressure”

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi just wishes Oscar Piastri well

Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri

The team also learned a lesson about the contracts – they’re now a bit stricter, with less room for drivers to exit in the manner that Oscar Piastri did. Ultimately, Laurent Rossi just wishes the Australian well: “You know, it’s okay. It’s over now. We learnt the lessons for ourselves. The rest — it’s just one person. I actually wish him well, and that’s about it.”

And he also seems to go back on his previous ‘loyalty’ comments: “Look, I wouldn’t call drivers disloyal, to be honest. They also have their own careers to manage, and god knows it’s a difficult one, because there’s really few of them, and it’s ferocious. They don’t have an easy one, right? If they have a bad year, they just get the boot, and it’s tough. So I think they also need to manage their own interests.”

But at the same time, he felt that there were “ways to do it”. Rossi also said that he wouldn’t have “necessarily prevented” Piastri from leaving if he had come to them with something “more structured”. Moreover, the Frenchman also thinks that Alpine are “better off” with Pierre Gasly, who had a fantastic weekend in Bahrain, and there’s currently no reason to want anything else.

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