Piastri's mum shocked by infamous Alpine tweet: 'He's not really like that'

Mother Piastri shocked by infamous Alpine tweet

"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," read Oscar Piastri's tweet in response to Alpine's announcement after Fernando Alonso suddenly said he would be leaving the team.

Oscar's mother, Nicole Piastri, admits she was shocked by what happened. "That was in the middle of the night. He gave me some warning about the Alpine tweet and then just texted me and said: 'Mum, this is going to happen and don't worry about it. It's all under control.' It doesn't feel like it is," she told The Red Flags Podcast.

"He was like: 'yeah, it is fine.' And then it came out, it was 01:00 in Australia, my phone exploded. I didn't answer anything. I could see on social media, people just losing their minds," the Australian continued. "About an hour later, he texted me again and said 'sorry Mum, in half an hour I'll release a statement.' I was like: Oscar, where are your managers? After all, I knew they were in Australia." Manager and former F1 driver Mark Webber was not with the driver, but was on task to assist him.

Mother Piastri: 'That tweet was not how Oscar really is'

"I just had to trust, they knew what they were doing and they did in the end, but it was interesting. The next day, out of coincidence I was flying over there to spend the next five weeks with him, so I was there then when all hell broke loose. I was over there with him, and he was pretty calm," Nicole continues.

"That was his introduction to F1. It was a big one," she adds. "He knew that you just had to trust that his personality would come out at some point. The way he came across was not at all what he's like. So we had to sit tight and people will work out who the real you [Oscar] is."

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.

— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) August 2, 2022