Why did Alpine pretend Oscar Piastri was driving for them?

HUGE news happened recently where Alpine announced Oscar Piastri... only for Oscar to turn around and say he wasn't driving for them!

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[OumuamuaOumuamua]

Imagine losing 2 major talents within the span of 4 days, This has to be the biggest Ferrari moment not done by Ferrari

[oliverokeeffe]

its so hilarious that alpine went from having a choice between fernando and oscar to having neither of them

[fancytongs]

Oscar saying no to Alpine is the most Aussie "yeah... nah" moment ever.

[GrayCatbird]

Imagine how desperate Alpine must have been to be willing to resort to such a low and risky tactic. Imagine how bad they must be that Alonso jumped ship immediately, and that Piastri is comfortable giving them a categorical no.

[jealva]

The dark reality is that there is a huge problem at Renault/Alpine which has lost Ricciardo, Prost and Alonso. Once they got a good look inside, they found the exit door.

[seashackf]

Alonso’s video was aimed at Otmar saying he was unavailable on a boat in the Greek Isles. At first he posted a pict of himself karting at his track near Oviedo, which Oscar liked. Some People didn’t believe it was from today. Said it’s an old pict….hence video of Oviedo with date proving exactly where he was.

[nathandoan]

I love how it even got IndyCar drivers saying they will not be driving for Alpine in 2023

[cra_]

At this rate, Alpine's gonna sign Mazepin for next year

[gustavorodriguez]

Alpine seems to have got jealous about Ferrari being the main clowns of this season.

[njohnson]

This has been the most exciting off track action since Verstappen v. Ocon at Brazil 2018.

[bigboi]

I am announcing that i infact will also not be driving for alpine in 2023

[eromitlabhitw]

I remain open and available to drive for Alpine in 2023.
I'm middle-aged and have never raced competitively at any level, but I might be all Alpine has left before long.

[brocksisson]

Alonso decided we needed a really silly season and set it all in motion.

[DRAGONLAYER]

This is all part of the great Ricciardo master plan. He started by getting promoted to the red bull team and partnering a multiple world champion and beating him soundly in his first season in the same machinery. Then this new guy turns up and unsettles the team so he leaves and shows what he can do at a shit house Renault team before heading to McLaren and picking up their first win in years and then deliberately under performing so that when vettel retired and Alonso took his spot he could entice piastri to McLaren get brought out of his contract, and then convince Pierre to go to Alpine and he would then sign as the number 1 driver with alpha tauri so that when checo continued to under perform and red bull decides to demote him to the junior team he can get the call up to red bull and join a team to beat a then multiple world champion in the same machinery. BOOM 🤯

[gsixuwlj]

Alpine woefully overestimated their negotiating position with Alonso and it led to this circus show.

[intovertjohn]

I want to know what happened in Alpine's HQ with talks with Fernando and Oscar. Something's fishy with that organization. I almost want to have the conspiracy that maybe both drivers were unhappy about Otmar, considering his track records with treating drivers and running teams. As for Ocon, I think he's just happy to have a seat in F1 still.

[stevens]

Meme lord Alonso in cahoots with Webber orchestrating the best move for Piastri’s contract to expire on July 31st when Alonso announced his move to Aston Martin. Boom Mclaren deal. The fallout will be fascinating to watch, this is bitter sweet from this Aussies perspective.

Danny Ric to Alpine or Indycar?

[rosco]

My main gripe with it is how strongly worded Oscar response was. He not only isn't driving for them but he doesn't seem to like the team.

And he got huge balls, to go public with such issues

[daisywalsh]

I can’t believe Alpine had absolutely no idea Alonso would leave them. They knew he wanted a multi year contract but they only offered him one year yet he was not given a proper contract to sign and agree to. I think Alpine wanted Piastri not Alonso from the beginning, as they were so quick to announce him as their next driver (or so they thought). Just can’t believe something this disorganised is happening in such a highly rated sport lol.

[UtubeItube]

I always wondered why it’s called silly season. Now it finally makes sense