Oscar Piastri’s hopes of a Formula 1 race drive in 2022 were doomed from the moment the 2021 calendar was released, according to his team boss.
The Australian, who leads the Formula 2 championship with just two rounds remaining, will sit out the 2022 season, having signed a deal as Alpine’s reserve driver.
He’s expected to step into a Formula 1 race seat in 2023, likely replacing double world champion Fernando Alonso, who will turn 41 midway through next season.
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But Rene Rosin, who runs Piastri’s Formula 2 team, Prema Racing, says the 20-year-old has been a victim of circumstances.
“Unfortunately the format of this year didn’t help Oscar,” the Italian told Wide World of Sports.
“Deciding the Formula 2 championship in December doesn’t help. At Monza in September, that’s normally the key point for Formula 1 teams to decide their drivers for the next year.
“But this year we were only halfway through the Formula 2 championship at Monza. We still had four rounds to go. This didn’t play in Oscar’s favour.”
Rosin was reluctant to compare Piastri with his former champions in the category, such as Mick Schumacher (2020), Charles Leclerc (2017) and Pierre Gasly (2016), who are all currently in Formula 1.
But Rosin did note the Australian would have been ready to make the step up to F1 had the opportunity presented itself next season.
“For sure it’s a great reward for Oscar to get the Alpine reserve driver spot, but of course it would have been better to be announced as a race driver. The drivers that are fighting for the F2 championship at the moment could all go to Formula 1,” he said.
“Being Alpine’s reserve driver is a great reward, but I wish him to be in Formula 1 sooner, because he deserves it.”
Piastri’s manager, nine-time grand prix winner Mark Webber, recently told Wide World of Sports that Alpine had been caught out by how quickly the Australian developed, having not expected him to be ready for F1 until Alonso’s contract expired at the end of 2022.
Rosin has also been caught short, having initially expected Piastri to take over the team-leader role at Prema for next year’s F2 season.
“I was planning on Oscar to have a two year deal,” he explained.
“It was not signed, but the plan we discussed with Mark was always to jump into F2 this year, learn the series as a rookie, and then go for the win in year two.
“Oscar surprised everybody. It’s a good surprise, to be fair, and we are happy for him. But it’s put us in difficulties because I was counting on him for 2022!
“He’s ready to step up to Formula 1, he doesn’t need another season in F2.”
Piastri has dominated the last three rounds of the F2 season, claiming pole in each race and scoring big points each weekend.
That’s despite a break of almost two months between the rounds at Silverstone and Monza, which as Rosin points out, highlights the maturity of the Melburnian.
“One of Oscar’s strong points is to adapt to the situation. He’s calm and his mental state is incredible,” he said.
“He’s been able to adapt to the format this year, which honestly, doesn’t help. The big gaps between races, you lose the momentum.
“A lot of drivers need a lot of time to re-adapt, he arrived at Monza after two months away and took pole position. It’s absolutely incredible.
“Then he went to Sochi, a circuit he didn’t know, it was new to him, and again he smashed the lap time.”
Piastri leads China’s Guanya Zhou, who will drive for Alfa Romeo in Formula 1 next year, by 36 points heading into this weekend’s round in Saudi Arabia, with Prema teammate Robert Shwartzman a further seven points adrift.
The Australian can mathematically seal the championship this weekend, but it’s more likely to go down to the final event in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
“We are really enthusiastic about the job he is doing, but nothing is done yet, there’s still two rounds to go,” Rosin said.
“But he’s an amazing driver, he’s done an amazing job for us.”
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