Was Oscar Piastri Robbed of a Formula 1 seat?
General
Oscar Piastri is one of the biggest talents in motorsport, yet he’s without a drive for 2022. After winning Formula 2 you can’t compete in that class anymore, and with the Australian driver achieving that feat in 2021, just one year after winning the Formula 3 title, he was unable to race in F2 this year.
But, his immense junior career, which has serious comparisons to George Russell and Charles Leclerc, in regards to how good it is, wasn’t rewarded in a Formula 1 seat? But why is that? Here’s the answer in under three minutes.
Alpine’s Commitment to Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso’s Form
Piastri is an Alpine academy driver, so the natural space for him on the F1 grid is at that team. However, there’s no room.
Starting with Ocon, Alpine offered the Frenchman a bumper new contract following his impressive start to 2021. His year tailed off slightly, before picking up right at the end, but he deserves that seat overall. His contract at the team now runs until 2025, so he’s going nowhere fast. Sorry Piastri, you’re not getting his seat.
On the other side of the Alpine garage, Alonso surprised everyone last year. After a two-year absence from the sport, he was expected to struggle, but that wasn’t the case. He secured a podium in Qatar, and looked like the same-old Fernando we’re used to. So, dropping him for 2022 simply wasn’t an option.
New Regulations
While Alpine’s diver line-up, which may well be broken up ahead of 2023 to allow Piastri a space at the team, is a big reason why the Aussie isn't on the grid, so are the new regulations.
With teams unaware of what’s to come, continuity is a valuable commodity. There’s only two drivers on the grid in 2022 who didn’t compete in 2021, and one of them, Alex Albon, has already raced in F1, and was Red Bull’s reserve driver last year.
Teams knew how hard the regulations would be to deal with, and opting for experience, and minimal changes in regards to drivers was preferential. Timing has not been on Piastri’s side.
MONEY
The third and final reason is simply money. Piastri doesn’t have the finances that Guanyu Zhou has, which is why the Chinese driver was handed the Alfa Romeo seat alongside Valtteri Bottas and not the 2021 F2 champion.
Piastri, comfortably in the end, saw off Zhou in the feeder series to F1, and so was the more worthy candidate for the seat. But, with Chinese backing, Zhou won the battle. If you want to find out more about Zhou and what to expect from him, then check out our latest video.
All in all, Piastri is simply the right driver rising through the ranks in the wrong year. The effects of 2019, when George Russell, Lando Norris and Alex Albon were promoted from F2 to F1, and 2021, when Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin and Yuki Tsunoda did the
same, have also affected Piastri, with limited space actually available on the grid.