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All the drama surrounding Alpine's alleged contract with Oscar Piastri for the 2023 F1 season seems to have settled down now. The French outfit's CEO Laurent Rossi has now claimed that it is imperative that the FIA clearly lay down the regulations regarding driver contracts.
Speaking about the steps taken by Oscar Piastri in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Rossi said:
“This is a point that needs to be discussed. Piastri’s behavior set a dangerous precedent for our sport. I was very pleased with the comments by Toto Wolff and Christian Horner on this topic. Toto has said he will look more closely at his driver contracts in the future to prevent anything like this from happening. Of course, in the future, we can design the contracts in such a way that the drivers are committed to the long term.”
“But it’s like a marriage where you decide from day one what the other can and can’t do. Maybe we should do it like in football, where it happens again and again that small clubs train players, and as soon as they are good, they are bought away by the big ones. Since you are considering introducing a three-year period until the player can change.”
After Fernando Alonso announced his sudden departure from Alpine to replace Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin, the French outfit immediately confirmed that 2021 Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri would take the Spaniard's seat. The 21-year-old, however, denied having signed with Alpine and later confirmed that he will be racing for McLaren next season.
"That was a nice moment" - Oscar Piastri on Daniel Ricciardo reaching out to him
Amidst all the drama at McLaren and Alpine, Daniel Ricciardo phone-called his compatriot to wish him luck for his future in the Woking-based team after announcing his departure from McLaren at the end of the 2022 season. Oscar Piastri praised the eight-time race winner for being a "true professional," confessing that it helped him to know that there were no "hard feelings" between the two.
Speaking about this on the In The Fast Lane podcast, Oscar Piastri said:
“I was planning on getting in touch myself but with the timing of things, he was obviously at a race and quite frankly I didn’t actually know if he wanted to hear from me. I was trying to think of what to say but he beat me to it. A true professional, Daniel is. My respect for him was already extremely high and it’s only got higher in the way he’s responded.”
“Him getting in touch like that was great for me personally. Knowing there was no hard feelings, that really helped me quite a lot. So that was good, to get in touch. That was a nice moment. It’s a bit of a sliding doors moment but I think if I can get close to emulating what success he’s had on track and also the character he is off the track, I think I’ll be doing a reasonable job.”
No confirmation has been made regarding Daniel Ricciardo's plans for the future and whether or not he will continue to race in the 2023 F1 season.
