'No permanent F1 seat for Piastri in 2023 would be injustice'

Oscar Piastri immediately captured the championship on his debut in Formula 2 this year, yet there is no place for the talent in Formula 1. The Australian will have to watch from the sidelines for a year as a test and reserve driver with the Alpine team. Generational rival Callum Ilott would think it a shame if that were still the case in 2023.

Piastri is part of Alpine's junior program, but that is currently where Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon drive. The latter has an ongoing contract, while it is certainly not impossible that legend Alonso will hang up his helmet after 2022. So will Piastri have to be patient for another year? Renault, Alpine's parent organization, does not have any customer teams where it can mature young talent.

Piastri in 2023

Ilott hopes that, at whatever team, a spot will be freed up for Piastri in 2023. "What would be a surprise is if at the end of this year he didn’t have a seat for the following year because you can have a year off, as we’ve seen with many drivers, but if he doesn’t get one at the end of the year, I’d be very surprised. That would be an injustice to junior formula and the single seater ladder that we have", he said in converstation with Motorsportweek.com.

In recent years, Formula 2 proved to be a good foundation for Formula 1. Men like George Russell, Lando Norris, Alexander Albon, Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin, Yuki Tsunoda, Nicholas Latifi and Guanyu Zhou are all currently driving at the highest level in 2022. In that regard, it would indeed be a huge shame if we did not see Piastri in action in 2023.

Ilott to IndyCar

Ilott himself did not make it to Formula 1 either. The British driver was the test driver for Ferrari last season, but will now seek his salvation in the IndyCar. In 2021 he drove the last three races of the season in the United States on behalf of Juncos Hollinger-Chevrolet.