The fact that the young driver won in the prelude to Formula 1 meant that he could not follow another course, although the French team is aware of the talent he has just turned 21 years old .
The one from Melbourne now does the work of reserve driver for the Enstone team and, although Fernando Alonso or Esteban Ocon cause loss during any grand prix throughout the campaign, Piastri should be the substitute, but his role does not stop there .
The Australian is in Alpine developing, being a participant in the meetings on the race weekends and being present on the circuits, and from the top echelons of the team they defend this vision.
The French team’s CEO, Laurent Rossi , is one of those who is most confident in its growth, and is convinced that a year away from single-seaters will not prevent Piastri from reaching the level they expect within the structure.
Alpine has studied the possibilities, and has decided to commission its young driver to participate in the simulator sessions with the starters and attend the briefings with the engineers: “It has an extensive test program and many test days and kilometers in the simulator” .
“Normally the drivers don’t do every test or session here, but now it helps to have different points of view,” Rossi told Motorsport.com. “We think Oscar [Piastri] can bring more to the table than less experienced sim drivers, he can get more out of a broader program on and off the track.”
“We also involve him in the briefings more than the other test drivers, he pays a lot of attention to each other and to the behavior of the rest of the cars,” he continued. “Oscar provides a good and reliable input, not that someone thinks ‘yeah, that’s good, what do you know?’, so he receives a lot of information that makes his experience and knowledge grow.”
“It’s a much more intensive plan than most rookies get. Last year our reserve driver (Daniil Kvyat) wasn’t as involved, he didn’t do all the tests and he didn’t go into the simulator as often, and Oscar does all of that,” said Alpine’s CEO.
Piastri is expected to take the controls of the A522 in one of the first free practices of this 2022 Formula 1 season and, according to Rossi, Alpine would have liked it to have been in Australia, but the new regulations and the modification of the track prevented it.
“It was a great idea, and it would have been a wonderful moment, but the cars are new, the drivers and teams are still learning, so every practice session is important,” he said.
“In addition, the Albert Park track had also undergone modifications, and we did not have many spare parts. It is not the same for a regular driver to have an accident as for a reserve one, you cannot put so much pressure on him, despite his talent”, Rossy said.
“If you break a chassis, then like Hass, you don’t have a spare,” said Alpine’s chief executive. “There were too many risks, so we decided to do it later in the year, and we have studied that he does it on tracks where he has already been.”
