Laurent Rossi Puts Oscar Piastri Grudge in Rear View Mirror

After an acrimonious dispute between Australian driver Oscar Piastri and the Alpine F1 Team during the 2022 ‘silly season’ Laurent Rossi says he and his team have turned the page, and he no longer holds a grudge, while also stating the team is now better off as they were able to sign Pierre Gasly to drive alongside Esteban Ocon.

Speaking on the Beyond The Grid podcast, Rossi was quite candid as he explained the situation.

“Look, I wouldn’t call drivers disloyal to be honest.

“They also have their own careers to manage, and God knows it’s a difficult one, because there’s really few of them. And it’s ferocious, as you said. And they don’t have an easy one, right?

“If they have a bad year, they just get the boot, and it’s tough. So, I think they also need to manage their own interests.

“Now, there’s probably ways to do it…

“I would have not necessarily prevented Oscar from leaving should he have come to us with something a bit more structured, let’s say, ‘hey guys, I’m also having this offer, what do we do? Can we talk?’

“It just caught us by surprise. I guess it also caught Ricciardo by surprise, which says a lot, right?

“That might be a little bit candid. And we don’t want to be candid anymore.

“It’s okay, it’s over now. We learn the lessons for ourselves. The rest is just one person. I actually wish him well. And that’s about it.

“There’s no need to hold a grudge. It’s like it’s destroying you and destroying the things you want to do. So, you know, that’s gone.

“We’re better off with Pierre now, so why would we want anything else? I’m fine with that.

“If down the road, the opportunity arises, I’m not saying no, I’m not saying yes, we’ll see. We’ll see when we get there.”