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F1 pundit Ted Kravitz recently revealed that there might be interest from Williams to pick Alpine's reserve driver Oscar Piastri. Williams has suffered from a lack of performance from their driver Nicholas Latifi this season. The Canadian has been woefully off the pace of his teammate Alex Albon in the four races held so far.
On one of his post-race features for the Imola GP, Kravitz said:
“One of the latest paddock rumours has Williams interested in the services of Oscar Piastri. This is for next year. I know I said [recently] you might see Oscar Piastri potentially at Aston Martin, but it seems I was wrong about that and actually Oscar Piastri/Alpine are looking at Williams potentially as a place for him next year. I don’t know if that will be in place of Alex Albon or Nicholas Latifi as both are very happy and ensconced within this team at Williams, but it’s one to look out for later in the season.”
The decision to give Oscar Piastri a debut in F1 could work for Williams as well. Williams currently has Nicholas Latifi as a paid driver and the Canadian brings a chunk of money with him to the team that is used for development purposes.
If Latifi leaves, the money used to develop the F1 car leaves with him as well. Picking up Oscar Piastri, however, could work for the team because it brings with it the possibility of further association with Alpine. Such an association could lead to a power unit partnership with Renault in exchange for providing a seat for the Australian.
Williams could offset the loss of sponsorship money with a power unit deal with Renault that could ultimately help serve the purpose of both parties.
Williams a perfect destination for Oscar Piastri's F1 debut
In essence, Williams might just be the perfect destination for Oscar Piastri to make his debut. The team has a great benchmark for him in the form of Alexander Albon and to add to that, Williams is not a team that is in the thick of things when it comes to battles in the midfield.
The team is still on the fringes, which will give Piastri enough time to grow without a constant spotlight on him and ultimately help him prove himself against a capable driver like Alex Albon.
