"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," Piastri wrote in a mere 48 words. "This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year."
Nearly three years later, Piastri's audacious move to McLaren has been emphatically vindicated. The Australian driver currently leads the Formula 1 drivers' standings, having secured victory in four of the six races held this season, including an impressive streak of three consecutive wins. His tally of 131 points stands in stark contrast to his former team Alpine, who have accumulated a mere seven points in total and haven't celebrated a race win in almost four years.
Heading into the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix this Sunday, Piastri is aiming for his fourth consecutive triumph. However, he anticipates a potentially tougher challenge at the bumpy Imola circuit compared to the smoother conditions experienced in Miami two weeks prior.
"When you’ve won four out of six, it’s been a great start. I’ve been enjoying the success on track but, for me, what’s been very satisfying is all the work we’ve done behind the scenes to achieve that," Piastri commented. "It’s quite a different feeling when you win a race because you feel like you’ve just gotten by or had good circumstances. But to now be winning because we have an incredibly quick car and I feel like I’m driving well, that’s very satisfying."
The practice sessions on Friday further underscored Piastri and McLaren's current performance advantage. Piastri topped the timesheets in both sessions, albeit with narrow margins over his teammate and closest title rival, Lando Norris. In the first session, Piastri was a mere 0.0032 seconds faster than Norris, while Carlos Sainz Jr. placed third for Williams, 0.020 seconds adrift of Norris. Reigning champion Max Verstappen, driving for Red Bull, finished the first session in a relatively low seventh position.
Piastri managed to slightly extend his lead in the second practice session, finishing 0.025 seconds ahead of Norris. Alpine's Pierre Gasly was a distant third, trailing Piastri by 0.276 seconds. Both practice sessions were punctuated by red flags due to separate incidents involving Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar.
Meanwhile, Piastri's former team, Alpine, continues to endure a difficult season marked by a lack of pace and significant off-track drama. For months, speculation had mounted regarding the potential replacement of Australian rookie driver Jack Doohan by their reserve driver, Franco Colapinto. Despite team principal Oliver Oakes dismissing these claims during the Miami Grand Prix, he abruptly resigned just two days after the race. A day later, Alpine announced Doohan's departure – whose best race result was 13th – and confirmed Colapinto's promotion.
Colapinto, who had a brief mid-season stint with Williams in 2024, expressed his happiness at returning to F1 but also voiced reservations about the circumstances and short-term nature of his current five-race deal. He acknowledged that gaining a seat at another driver's expense was "never nice" and expressed concern that the limited duration might not allow him sufficient opportunity to demonstrate his full potential.
In other news, the first of two races held in Italy this year is generating excitement among local fans. For the first time since 2021, an Italian driver, 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli, is competing for Mercedes. Additionally, Ferrari's passionate "tifosi" fans are eagerly anticipating their first home race with Lewis Hamilton driving for the iconic Italian team. However, Friday's practice sessions presented a mixed picture for Ferrari, with both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc reporting braking issues. In the first session, Hamilton finished fifth, while Leclerc was twelfth. The second session saw Leclerc in sixth and Hamilton in eleventh.
Adding a personal touch to his Italian experience, Piastri connected with distant relatives and was granted honorary citizenship of Licciana Nardi in Tuscany, the ancestral home of his family name.