“It Was Not Easy…”: Zhou Makes Shocking Alpine F1 Confession Amidst Ugly Oscar Piastri Dispute

Oscar Piastri, making his imminent move to the big leagues, is the talk of the town. There has been no official confirmation yet, but multiple reports suggest Piastri will drive for McLaren next season. The rookie Australian will probably replace the outgoing one in the most extraordinary turn of events.

Alpine, without a valid contract, announced Piastri as their driver for the 2023 season. The young Australian quickly and publicly refuted the French team’s claim on his social media. Watching the saga unfold from a distance is Piastri’s former Alpine academy driver, Zhou Guanyu.

The Chinese driver recently shared his delight over his decision to leave Alpine for a seat at Alfa Romeo last year. He said, “I’ve been completely released. Everything worked out very nicely because my contract was ending at the end of last year and it was up to both of us if we wanted to continue, but then there was an opportunity with Alfa.” 

“So it was not easy to get out of Alpine, but I’m very happy that everything worked out well because if I had another year I’d be kind of stuck, the same now with Oscar.”

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“So it’s not the best thing for me. I feel like there was an opportunity here, so I went for it, and I think it was a very good decision,” further added the content Alfa Romeo man.

Until it was announced, Piastri did not have a seat in the French paddock with Alonso set to continue. However, Piastri is finally walking in his colleague’s steps a season later.

Piastri will most probably have a seat in F1 in 2023. But where? And that is a question that affects Daniel Ricciardo as well.

If Oscar Piastri drives for McLaren, where will Ricciardo go?

As it is becoming increasingly evident that Oscar Piastri will drive for McLaren, the team has to get their house in order. And the first order of business would be to take care of the Daniel Ricciardo situation.

Since the Australian is contracted until the 2023 season, McLaren might have to work on a pay-off deal with Ricciardo to terminate his contract a year early. This deal highly depends on the driver securing a seat elsewhere. However, according to reports, Ricciardo has had four teams contact him in the past two weeks alone.

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Coming weeks will reveal some of the changes in the 2023 grid as the world waits eagerly.