Motorsport world takes a dig at Alpine at the expense of Oscar Piastri's tweet

Oscar Piastri shockingly denied having signed an agreement with Alpine shortly after the team announced that the 22-year-old will be "promoted" to replace Fernando Alonso, who confirmed that he will be racing for Aston Martin in 2023. This development sent the F1 community into an absolute frenzy on social media.

Confirming that he will not be driving for Alpine next season, despite the team's announcements suggesting otherwise, Piastri tweeted:

“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.”

In an official press statement while announcing the Australian as their driver for the 2023 season, team principal Otmar Szafnauer said:

“Oscar is a bright and rare talent. We are proud to have nurtured and supported him through the difficult pathways of the junior formulae. Through our collaboration over the past four years, we have seen him develop and mature into a driver who is more than capable of taking the step up to Formula 1. As our Reserve Driver, he has been exposed to the team at the track, factory and testing where he has shown the maturity, promise and speed to ensure his promotion to our second seat alongside Esteban. Together, we believe the duo will give us the continuity we need to achieve our long-term goal of challenging for wins and championships.”

Alpine now claims to have contractual rights to the Formula 2 champion.

As reported by The Race, a team spokesperson spoke about the matter, saying:

“We believe we are legally correct in our statement, but don’t have anything further to say.”

Meanwhile, the world of motorsport has taken over social media to share hilarious reactions to all the chaos, with several joking that they, too, have not signed for the French outfit. See some of them below:

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Teams and others within the F1 community also reacted to the Alpine fiasco

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Alpine were allegedly informed about Fernando Alonso's move to Aston Martin by a press release

Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer revealed that he was "surprised" to learn that Fernando Alonso has signed a deal with Aston Martin. Earlier, Szafnauer appeared rather confident that the team was close to agreeing a contract extension with the Spaniard for the upcoming season.

Revealing that he learned about Alonso's move from Aston Martin's press release, Szafnauer said:

“It was the first confirmation I had. Obviously, when we’re in the paddock, there’s all sorts of rumours, and I had heard rumours that Aston [Martin] were interested. Once you hear that they’re interested, there’s probably discussions that took place and there’s some other indications that discussions took place, like walking out of the same motorhome at the same time, all that kind of stuff, which I saw.’’

“But I was confident that, even with the discussions, and there’s nothing wrong with exploring, that we were very close. So yes, the first confirmation I had was the press release. I did ask the question [to Alonso]. And I was told: ‘No, no, I haven’t signed anything.’ So I was a bit surprised.”

Given that the team is doing considerably well this season, Szafnauer is certainly not the only one shocked to see him move to Aston Martin.