Oscar Piastri will make his official motorsport debut with Alpine in the first free practice of the 2022 French Grand Prix, Motorsport.com has learned. All teams are required to field two rookie practice sessions this season, and teams will alternate their regular drivers.
The Australian’s two times behind the wheel of the French single-seater are considered key as part of an apprenticeship in the reserve role, along with the private tests with the A521 from last season that he has already carried out in Qatar and Silverstone. Team boss Otmar Szafnauer only confirmed that Piastri’s Formula 1 debut would come “soon”, and that it would not be at the British Grand Prix, where the Enstone team will introduce another upgrade package.
“We can say that it will not be at Silverstone,” said the American. “But it’s not far away, the answer is that we plan to put him in the car, but we haven’t announced it yet.”
Given that Austria is a sprint race and therefore the drivers only have one practice session before qualifying on Friday afternoon, Piastri ‘s debut is only logical that it comes at Alpine’s home race.
The Australian took part in a Formula Renault Eurocup test at Paul Ricard in 2019, but did not compete in any of his F3 and F2 seasons, from which he was champion. The Melbourne driver is expected to be a Williams driver in 2023 while he remains linked to Alpine, although Szafnauer continues to play down any speculation about his future.
“Oscar [Piastri] is a brilliant young talent, as we all know,” he said in Canada. “And he’s been testing last year’s car, in more places than Silverstone, he’s done it more times and he’ll do it in the future, he’s doing very well.”
“We have a contract with Oscar and we are considering some options on him. So there is no need to rush, we will take our time, and at the right time, within the silly season , we will take a look,” he acknowledged. “We will make those kinds of decisions.”
In the first nine races, only two teams have replaced their drivers for a Free Practice 1 session. Red Bull dropped Sergio Pérez from the car to mount Jüri Vips , while Nyck de Vries replaced Alex Albon in Williams at the same appointment in Barcelona.
Furthermore, Alfa Romeo officially fulfilled one of its obligations when Guanyu Zhou made his Formula 1 debut in Bahrain. Including Piastri, there are 17 substitutions still to be made for the rest of the season.
