‘They only have themselves to blame’: F1 Twitter has no sympathy for Alpine after CEO hints they may close their academy


‘They only have themselves to blame’: F1 Twitter has no sympathy for Alpine after CEO hints they may close their academy

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer

Alpine have had an odd couple of months. They have jumped their rivals for fourth place in the Constructors, McLaren, but they have also been handed a major blow by them in the process: Oscar Piastri will drive for the British team next year. The Contract Recognition Board ruled in favour of McLaren, counting that as the only valid contract.

ADVERTISEMENT

Piastri has long been considered one of motorsport’s hottest prospects, and losing him will hurt for a long time. As a consequence, they also have an empty seat, who Pierre Gasly is considered to be the frontrunner for. However, him and Esteban Ocon are known to not be on the best of terms, and the move may bring its own complications.

Talking to The Race, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi feels that how this whole saga transpired is not good for the sport: “This is not good for the sport. Beyond our little scratch here at Alpine, I think the sport itself gets scratched a bit. We were the one who got the burn for everyone else.” but what most fans seem to feel is that Alpine themselves are at fault for the Piastri situation.

Also Read: Fans fawn over Esteban Ocon’s wholesome snap with Mick Schumacher from the Alpine driver’s birthday party

ADVERTISEMENT

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi: “Why would we [take new drivers]?”

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi
Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi

Apart from this, Laurent Rossi also thinks that Alpine may not take any more new drivers into their academy: “Now, we’re really wondering whether or not [to continue] beyond the current batch of drivers that we have and with whom we’re going to honour until the end our obligations as we have multi-year plans with them. We wonder if we’re going to take new drivers, because why would we?”

Fans, as mentioned before, feel that it’s Alpine’s fault for driving Oscar Piastri to the point at which he had to do this. The team’s plan for him included a two-year loan at Williams (as they wanted to continue with their current lineup) but that was not satisfactory to Piastri, and as such he looked somewhere else.

At one point, even Jack Doohan was apparently being considered as taking the vacant seat, but that is highly unlikely, and it’s an option that he may actually fulfil the loan that Piastri was supposed to go on. Fans feel that Alpine do not have faith in their juniors.

Alpine also didn’t sign Piastri to an actual ‘valid’ binding contract, and they have received massive criticism for this, as they can really only blame themselves for that.

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s not confirmed yet if Alpine will scrap their programme, even though it has been hinted. Current members of the academy include F3 champion Victor Martins, Brazilian F3 driver Caio Collet, and F2 drivers Jack Doohan and Olli Caldwell.

Also Read: “We’ve been extremely disappointed,” Laurent Rossi unhappy with Oscar Piastri’s ‘disloyal’ behaviour towards Alpine

Also Read: “They did such a bad job there,” Nico Rosberg critical of Alpine for losing Oscar Piastri