Understanding Piastri’s cutting Alpine message delivered in Austria

It was a simple radio message, missed by the television broadcast – probably deliberately – but one loaded with meaning.

After he’d been shoved off the road while trying to lap Franco Colapinto during the Austrian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri delivered a cutting comment over team radio.

The cutting undertone to Oscar Piastri radio message

Following the Austrian GP, Piastri holds a 15-point lead in the drivers’ championship over team-mate Lando Norris, who won the race in Spielberg.

There has been little to separate the pair all season, with the championship battle swinging back and forth almost every weekend.

In Austria, Piastri’s advantage was reduced by seven points, despite the Australian’s best efforts to ensure it was he who stood on the top step of the podium.

It could have easily been a very different story for the Melburnian, whose junior career saw him linked with Alpine.

The struggling squad sits at the other end of the constructors’ championship, 10th and last with just two points finishes to its name this season.

Alpine is a team in turmoil. It’s endured a revolving door of team bosses while rookie Jack Doohan was replaced after six races in favour of Colapinto.

The Argentinian proved a thorn in Piastri’s side in Austria as, while locked in battle with Tsunoda, he moved aside on the second-placed driver, ushering him off the road.

Having briefly bounced through the grass to avoid Colapinto’s Alpine, he laconically took to the radio with a cutting observation.

“Alpine still managed to find a way to f*ck me over all these years later, huh,” he told engineer, Tom Stallard.

It was a comment laden with meaning.

The first was the clear frustration at the situation, expressed in typical Piastri fashion – dry, sarcastic, and with tongue firmly in cheek.

It was a moment that could have cost him significantly; had he failed to reach the flag, Norris would have taken over the lead of the championship.

But there was a second meaning, a lingering bitterness that stems back to his time at Enstone that ended rather embarrassingly for the team.

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In 2022, Piastri had found himself side-lined despite winning the Formula Regional, Formula 3, and Formula 2 championships in as many seasons.

Set to be reserve driver at Alpine, the contract he was promised never delivered. Indeed, documents submitted to the Contract Recognition Board which it claimed were a signed agreement were nothing of the sort – as was later proven.

Back then, there was a growing sense of frustration within the Piastri camp, which led him to Zak Brown’s door where a deal was quietly struck.

It was a significant moment both for the driver at the team, one that spelled the end of the line for Daniel Ricciardo.

To bring Piastri in, McLaren had to pay out the final year of Ricciardo’s contract. It was a huge show of faith for a rookie driver, something that was evidently lacking at Alpine.

In the days that followed the Hungarian GP that year, Fernando Alonso announced his shock decision to leave Alpine for Aston Martin in place of the retiring Sebastian Vettel.

Soon after, it was announced that Piastri would replace the two-time champion alongside Esteban Ocon, a statement made without quotes from the young Australian.

Then came the tweet:

“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have 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.”

And he was right. As the matter escalated to the Contract Recognition Board it was found that Alpine did in fact have no claim to his services.

Through the process, Piastri’s professionalism, credibility, and ethics were called into question by the very team that was fighting for his services.

It was a bitter and unnecessary process that could have been avoided, and clearly left a sour taste.

Publicly, Piastri has remained professional on his Alpine exit, politely dodging questions as they arise.

But, in the white-hot crucible heat of battle for the world championship, in sharp contrast to a team flailing at the back of the pack, Piastri’s comments cut like a knife.

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