Oscar Piastri became a star in the F1 world even before stepping into it. After his brilliant Championship victory in Formula 2, the racer got a super license for racing in F1. At that time, he was an Alpine junior and the French outfit had a seat ready for him. According to Alpine’s plan, Piastri would take Fernando Alonso‘s place since the two-time World Champion was leaving for Aston Martin. However, little did the Enstone team know that Oscar would refuse the offer even after Alpine had already publicly announced it.

Thus, both Oscar Piastri and Alpine fell into an uncomfortable situation as the Aussie denied ever signing a contract that would place him in the team beside Esteban Ocon. He tweeted in response to the French squad’s declaration of Piastri being their newest recruit, saying: “I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 has put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”

In the subsequent weeks, it also became clear that Piastri had refused Alpine’s offer because he was already in talks with McLaren. As a result, the Enstone team principal at that time, Otmar Szafnauer, took a jab at the Australian for lacking ‘integrity’ as he was turning his back on the team that had nurtured him since 2020. In fact, Alpine even went to F1’s Contract Recognition Board and shelled out $6,86,583.00 in legal fees to get back at McLaren for taking away Piastri. Remembering that time, the 23-year-old’s mother Nicole said on The Red Flags podcast, “I was there then when all all hell broke loose.”

So, Oscar Piastri’s integrity was called into question while McLaren and Alpine battled amongst themselves. But Nicole Piastri said, “He was pretty calm even though that was the narrative around him for a long time with that tweet. That was his introduction to F1. But we knew and he knew that we had to trust that his personality would come through at some point. The way that he came across [due to the Alpine tweet] was not at all what he’s like.” Thus, Nicole spoke on the leap of faith Piastris took during Oscar’s F1 debut as they believed his true nature would come through.

And now, it seems like the Piastris’ leap of faith has paid off. In just his second F1 season, Oscar is already a frontrunner at almost all the Grands Prix with a win at the Hungarian GP. However, his mother said she never liked the way he entered Formula 1–but why?

Oscar Piastri’s mother admits her only regret about his F1 entry

In an interesting turn of events, Oscar Piastri came into F1 with a team that did not even have a place for him. In 2023, McLaren already had a contract in place with both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. However, they decided to buy the Aussie out since they just did not want to let go of Piastri. On the other hand, Alpine was also jumping at the opportunity to sign Oscar Piastri. So, McLaren prematurely terminated Ricciardo’s contract and hired their new Aussie recruit in his place.

When Oscar Piastri’s mother got the news of his F1 contract with McLaren, she was overjoyed. But soon, she realized her son was replacing Daniel Ricciardo. So, she said, “Then it dawned on me what that [Piastri replacing Ricciardo] meant and, I was like, ‘oh no.. oh no, wait! Oh my God, Daniel. I love Daniel!‘” As per Nicole Piastri, her son had said at that time, “Yep, everybody loves Daniel. That’s going to be a problem.” But it wasn’t as big a problem as Oscar Piastri had predicted.

In the end, everything worked out as Daniel got a place at Red Bull’s sister team VCARB. However, that seat might soon go to Liam Lawson and once again, Ricciardo might find himself out of a job in F1. Do you think this is the most probable fate for the Honey Badger now? Share you take in the comments.