Alpine F1 chief 'missing in action' after 'messing up' over Alonso and Piastri

dailystar.co.uk:

F1 reporter Ted Kravitiz has hit out at Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi following the team’s bungled handling of McLaren-bound Oscar Piastri.The driver market saga of the summer kicked off when Fernando Alonso announced he would be joining Aston Martin at the end of the season after failing to agree a new deal with Alpine.The Renault-backed team seemed to have a readymade replacement in Piastri, their talented reserve driver.

Alpine announced Piastri would replace Alonso, only for the Australian to declare via Twitter that he would be racing elsewhere in 2023. READ MORE: Mark Webber breaks silence over Oscar Piastri saga involving McLaren and Alpine Piastri had already signed with McLaren by that point and had informed Alpine of his plan to leave the Enstone-based squad.

The embarrassing saga has left Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer facing some awkward questions, but he has only been with the team since March.It is CEO Rossi, whom Szafnauer reports to, who is in charge of driver contracts, but he has been absent from recent races.That has prompted Kravitz to ask in his post-qualifying round-up at the Dutch Grand Prix to ask: “Where is Laurent Rossi?

The CEO of Alpine, [he's] not here, missing in action.“He’s messed up Fernando staying with the team, he’s now messed up Piastri staying with the team, with Otmar Szafnauer having to carry the can for team boss Laurent Rossi.