On Monday, it became clear that two-time world champion Fernando Alonso will leave Alpine for Aston Martin next season.
This is to fill the gap left by Sebastian Vettel, who chose to retire after 15 years in Formula 1, four of which as overall winner.
Just the following day, Alpine presented its replacement and new stablemate to Esteban Ocon, namely 2021 Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri.
"2023's driver constellation is confirmed.
After four years in the Renault and Alpine family, reserve driver Oscar Piastri has been promoted to compete alongside Esteban Ocon from 2023," the team wrote on its Twitter.
However, it got a quick response from the driver in question.
Barely two hours later, Piastri made his own statement on Twitter:
"I understand that Alpine, without my agreement, issued a press release this afternoon that I will drive for them next year.
That is not true and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not drive for Alpine next year”.
In addition to Alpine, Piastri is also a reserve driver for McLaren.
The BBC writes that Piastri is known to have held discussions about his F1 future with McLaren in recent weeks, but Alpine claims contractual rights over the driver.
- We believe we are legally correct in our statement, but we have nothing more to add, a spokesperson told the BBC on Tuesday.