Four years after one of the most dramatic and widely discussed contract controversies in modern Formula 1 history, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has playfully acknowledged the anniversary of the viral incident that launched his senior F1 career into the global spotlight.
The 2022 drama unfolded after two-time world champion Fernando Alonso stunned the motorsport community by announcing his departure from the Alpine team. In a rushed move to fill the empty race seat, Alpine issued an official statement on August 2 that same year, confirming its junior academy prospect Piastri would step into Alonso’s role for the 2023 F1 season. What the team did not anticipate, however, was an immediate and public pushback from the young Australian driver.
Piastri and his management team had never agreed to the terms outlined in Alpine’s announcement, despite the driver having come up through the team’s development program. Within just a few hours of the team’s press release, Piastri took to social media platform X (then known as Twitter) to set the record straight in unusually blunt terms for a young prospect stepping into the sport’s top tier.
“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year,” his original viral statement read.
In the aftermath of the unprecedented public dispute, Piastri secured a race seat with McLaren, replacing outgoing Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo for the 2023 season. The young driver has since impressed enough with his performances to earn a contract extension that keeps him with the British-based team through at least the end of the 2028 F1 season.
To this day, the 2022 public denial remains one of the most recognizable moments of Piastri’s early career, with the original post regularly recirculated across F1 fan social media circles. On the four-year mark of the incident, Piastri leaned into the ongoing attention with a lighthearted new post for his followers, thanking fans for their flood of “anniversary messages” that marked the viral moment that reshaped his career path.