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Oscar Piastri remains active in his role as reserve driver for the Alpine Formula 1 team despite the ongoing dispute surrounding his future.
On Monday, the FIA Contract Recognition Board will meet to discuss the conflicting deals which have been submitted pertaining to the 21-year-old.
Piastri is understood to have signed a deal to race for McLaren alongside Lando Norris next season, though no official word has been forthcoming.
Alpine meanwhile argues that it holds a contract, signed in November last year, for at least 2023.
The Australian made it clear on social media earlier this month that he does not intend to drive for Alpine next year.
Nonetheless, he remains an active part of the team and is this weekend working to progress its chances at the Belgian Grand Prix.
“He’s back in Enstone is driving our simulator, helping with car setup,” Alpine Team Principal, Otmar Szafnauer, confirmed.
“We continue to prepare Oscar in a no different manner than we have in the past.
“The relationship hasn’t wavered and we continue.”
As reserve driver, Piastri’s role is not only to be on standby as a potential replacement for Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon but to support the team in the simulator.
Over a race weekend, all F1 teams feed data from the track back to their factory where simulator drivers carry on running through different set-up choices, usually overnight on Friday.
The learnings from that effort are then fed back to engineers at the track and incorporated into the programme for Saturday.
It is why a close correlation between the real world, wind tunnel, and simulator is paramount to the ongoing development and success of a Formula 1 team, placing a degree of responsibility on the reserve driver as a result.
On Friday, Alonso was the highest placed of the two Alpine drivers in Spa-Francorchamps, ending Free Practice 2 seventh fastest with Ocon in 16th.
The Frenchman sat out much of the day’s opening session with a driveshaft issue having managed just five laps, none of them truly representative in terms of lap time.
The Belgian Grand Prix continues with final practice set to commence at 21:00 AEST tonight.
