On The Race podcast, Zak Brown discusses how Alpine 'dropped the ball' when attempting to bring Oscar Piastri on board as a full-time Formula 1 driver.
Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, spoke about the two McLaren drivers. He said, “Lando [Norris], we brought up through the ranks, Oscar, we identified as the next Lando."
Lando Norris first signed with McLaren in 2016 as a Test and Simulator Driver. Slowly, he rose through the ranks and developed into the driver they have today. Piastri, on the other hand, belonged to the Alpine Academy before signing to McLaren in 2023.
McLaren's decision to sign Piastri was a major move for the team. However, the opportunity was only possible due to issues with Piastri's original agreement with Alpine not being solidified. Alpine announced Piastri as Fernando Alonso's replacement, but only a few hours later, he took to Twitter to debunk the announcement.
About McLaren being able to sign Piastri, Brown says, "They [Alpine] kind of dropped the ball there. Thank you, Otmar.“
"We were able to bring Oscar on board, and he’s done a fantastic job. We have two unbelievably competitive drivers.”
Piastri currently leads the World Drivers Championship by 10 points while his teammate, Norris, is in second.
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