McLaren expects Alpine to retain Piastri until the end of the F1 season

Piastri will race for McLaren next year after Alpine claimed in the summer’s contract saga that he had an agreement to race in 2023, but the Contract Recognition Board ruled in McLaren’s favour.

After losing the case, Alpine said it would review its existing relationship with Piastri, which could have opened the door for him to join McLaren early.

But Piastre has since continued to work with Alpine in simulators throughout the race weekend, with McLaren expecting him to not link up with the Australian until the end of the season.

When asked if Alpine would help sign Gasly for 2023, McLaren would try to secure Piastre’s early release, team principal Andreas Seidl said: “I don’t think it will change much.

“They still plan to continue the program, I understand, with Oscar until the end of the season.

“So no news really.”

If McLaren could draft Piastri before the end of the season, he would be eligible to fulfill the young driver requirement for two FP1 sessions this year.

But the team has announced that 2021 IndyCar champion Alex Palou and Arrow McLaren SP IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward will be participating in those sessions in Austin and Abu Dhabi respectively.

Alpine has yet to clarify its plans for the young drivers in FP1, but should meet the requirements in the final four races.

Alpine had planned to give Piastri sessions as early as the French Grand Prix in mid-July, but team boss Ottmar Schaffnauer said at Suzuka that he was “not sure” the Australian would compete in any of the final four events.

An alternative option for Alpine would be F2 driver Jack Doohan, whose impressive rookie campaign in the category put him in contention for the seat eventually held by Gasly.

Safnauer said Alpine would “start to think more seriously” about its plans for young drivers for 2023 once its racing line-up is finalised, but noted that Doohan’s priority would be to fight for the F2 title next season.

“Jack’s immediate focus should be on winning the Formula 2 championship next year,” Safnauer said.

“We will support him in this process and help him along the way and give him some time in the car to prepare him for Formula 1.

“But yeah, we’re going to start looking at it now that we’ve gone through that step [confirming Gasly].”