Austrian GP: Oscar Piastri issues hilarious response to Alpine near-miss
Oscar Piastri issued an hilarious response on team radio after coming close to a bizarre accident with his former team Alpine at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Piastri was chasing McLaren teammate Lando Norris for the lead on Lap 55 when he attempted to overtake traffic out of Turn 3, but Franco Colapinto in the Alpine — battling Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda — did not see the Australian coming and forced him into an avoiding manoeuvre onto the grass.
Piastri, who was involved in one of Formula 1‘s most controversial transfer sagas when he left the Alpine junior ranks to join McLaren three years ago, was far from happy afterwards and, in an unbroadcasted radio message, said: “Alpine still manages to find a way to f— me over all these years later, huh.”
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The 24-year-old eventually finished second behind Norris, dropping his title advantage to 15 points.
Piastri’s journey from highly-rated junior to a title favourite has been far from conventional. Piastri became a member of the Renault, and then Alpine, academy in January 2020 and in July 2022, the team announced him as one of its Formula 1 drivers for the following season.
Piastri, however, denied he had ever signed a contract — which was proven by the FIA’s contract recognition board — and instead agreed a deal with McLaren. Piastri cited a breakdown in trust with the team and said the way he was dealt with by Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer was “bizarre and upsetting.”
As for Sunday’s incident, Colapinto was handed a five-second time penalty for his role and a penalty point.
“I just didn’t see him,” he said. “He was in my blind spot and I was focused on Tsunoda. I really wanted to get past.”
Source: espn.com