Andres125sx wrote: ↑30 Jul 2022, 22:12
He lapped his teammate in Minardi 2 or 3 times in the season, not comparable scenarios, Piastri is still an unknown in F1, Alonso wasn´t
Other unknowns like Kovalainen, Piquet, Petrov, Grosjean and Palmer were considered suitable to debut in Renault or Lotus...
Besides who didn't open their chequebook to buy either the vacant Williams seat for 2022, vacant Alfa Romeo seat for 2022, or the vacant HAAS seat that appeared in 2022 testing? Alpine have been
extremely sluggish in finding Piastri an F1 seat.
If Alpine do not get a move along, they shouldn't be surprised when Piastri signs for McLaren for a guaranteed 2024-2025 contract, even if it means being reserve driver again for 2023, this time for McLaren... Unless McLaren can indeed persuade Ricciardo to move along, where a 2023 McLaren drive will be possible.
McLaren seems to be the preferred option of Piastri and Webber now, and McLaren seem to be keen on Piastri even if the Alpine team at a similar level think Piastri is not good enough.
It really seems bizarre that Piastri is considered not good enough to debut for Alpine, when the likes of Kovalainen and Piquet considered good enough to debut for Renault. It will be Alpine's loss if Piastri switches to McLaren!
[Heikki Kovalainen] was supported by the Renault Driver Development programme early in his racing career, during which he won the World Series by Nissan championship and finished runner-up in the GP2 series. Renault signed him on as a full-time Formula One test driver for 2006, and then promoted him to a race seat for 2007.
During the 2007 season [Nelson Piquet Jr] was the official test and reserve driver for the Renault Formula One team. The 2008 season saw Piquet promoted to the Renault Formula One race team.
Romain Grosjean was confirmed as Renault's test driver for 2008, continuing in the role in 2009. Grosjean was promoted to Renault race driver from the 2009 European Grand Prix onwards.