Schumacher: 'Criminal to let such a gem as Alonso go'

Schumacher indicated even before Alpine's announcement that he sees Piastri driving at McLaren rather than at the team that put him on the reserve bench. Speaking to the German edition of Sky Sports he points out that Alpine had no intention of giving the young talent a permanent seat in 2023, but wanted to put him elsewhere for one or two years first.

'Alpine had no plan B, that's embarrassing'

"Alpine had an option [to put Piastri in the cockpit], but it wasn't taken because they didn't expect Fernando Alonso to leave. When you have such a gem, it is criminal to let him go," said the former F1 driver. However, the team refused to offer Alonso a multi-year contract and that was unacceptable to the two-time world champion.

Now the team has an empty seat that neither Alonso nor Piastri are interested in. The latter would already have an agreement in his pocket with McLaren, although the British stable would have to buy out Daniel Ricciardo' s contract. "If you are not able to structure the contracts properly, you can't blame the young man", Schumacher says about the fact that Piastri has turned his back on Alpine.

Schumacher believes Otmar Szafnauer 's criticism of Piastri is unfair. The Alpine team boss had expected more loyalty from the driver, but according to the German he should look at himself. "He is disappointed that he did not see it coming with Alonso and that he does not have a plan B. That's the embarrassing thing about the whole thing: he can only blame himself," Schumacher said.