Oscar Piastri’s immediate future with Alpine is set to be discussed by the team early this week.
On Friday, the Contract Recognition Board announced that the Enstone squad did not hold a valid contract with the Australian for next season.
Piastri will join McLaren for 2023 on a two-year deal, partnering Lando Norris.
The Melburnian is the reserve driver for Alpine and continues to perform those duties. For how much longer remains to be seen.
“He’s with us this weekend, doing simulator work, and that will be decided on,” Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal at Alpine, said of the 21-year-old’s role and future with the squad.
“He’ll continue this weekend. There’s only a couple of days left, today and tomorrow, and then on Monday we’ll get together with them and decide how to go forward.”
It is likely that Piastri’s involvement with the Alpine Formula 1 team will be scaled back as he prepares to depart the organisation at the end of the year.
An in-form Jack Doohan offers a ready-made replacement should the decision be to bench last year’s F2 champion for the balance of 2022.
Another option would be to release Piastri to McLaren early. In either case, a replacement would be required with Doohan the most logical choice.
Teams are this year obliged to run a driver with fewer than two grand prix starts to their name in two Free Practice 1 sessions.
As reserve driver, Piastri was set to perform those duties. Those opportunities could now fall to Doohan instead.
Speedcafe.com understands the 19-year-old already holds a superlicence, allowing him to parachute into the reserve driver role with minimal disruption.
Doohan is a three-time race winner in Formula 2 this season and has enjoyed strong form in recent races.
That culminated in last weekend’s performance in Spa-Francorchamps where he recorded second in Saturday’s Sprint race and his maiden Feature victory a day later.
He also stands next in line behind Piastri in the Alpine programme.
“No, not really at the moment,” Doohan said when asked by Speedcafe.com if discussions about his future beyond Piastri had taken place.
“It’s quite fresh, you could say, and at the moment they’re [Alpine] allowing me to focus on the job at hand.
“At the moment we’re performing well in what we’re doing, so I think that they’re letting me apply full focus to that.
“After Monza we’ll have a big break where possibly then [I] can shift my duties somewhere else.
“But at the moment, very happy for Oscar as well, as a fellow Aussie, making it to the Formula 1 grid with McLaren.
“We’ll see what opportunities open up in the future [for me].
“At the moment, like always, just focusing on Formula 2 and the task ahead.”
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