Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer wishes Oscar Piastri ‘had a bit more integrity’ as contract dispute persists

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer claims he wishes Oscar Piastri “had a bit more integrity” as their dispute rumbled on.

The French team had hoped to bring Piastri, their reserve driver, into their line-up for the 2023 season after Fernando Alonso unexpectedly decided to leave the team for Aston Martin after he replaced Sebastian Vettel.

Alpine went as far as announcing Piastri’s promotion only for the Australian to deny any agreement, as he had signed up to race for McLaren given Daniel Ricciardo’s exit.

The dispute will go to arbitration in the coming days, but the relationship appears irreparably strained.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Szafnauer said: “He’s a promising young driver. He hasn’t driven in F1 yet. And my wish for Oscar was that he had a bit more integrity.

“He signed a piece of paper as well back in November and we’ve done everything on our end of the bargain to prepare him for F1.

“And his end of the bargain was to either drive for us, or take a seat where we would place him for the next three years. And I just wish Oscar would have remembered what he signed in November and what he signed up to.”

Discussing their options for their line-up next year, he continued: “I think the right thing for us to do is to go to the CRB on Monday, see how that pans out, and then start looking at some negotiations in earnest.”

Another Australian, Ricciardo, has been linked and the team head did not deny the possibility.

“The team speak very highly of Daniel and his time here,” he explained. “We haven’t had those strategic discussions yet, but everybody I ask, [in] the engineering team, they really speak highly of his skill as a driver and as a team motivator.”