Horner expresses regret for not signing Piastri as a junior racer

On the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast, the Red Bull Boss mentioned Piastri, a driver for his junior team.

Christian Horner, the head of Red Bull Formula 1, has expressed “regret” for passing up the opportunity to add Oscar Piastri to the junior racers’ programme.

Piastri, the 2021 Formula 2 winner, will make his F1 start with McLaren in 2023 after Alpine helped him advance through the rankings. McLaren had planned to give Piastri a racing seat the following year until Fernando Alonso left the team.

Piastri openly declined that offer, stating that he would not race for Alpine in 2023 because he had already signed a contract to race for McLaren.

As exclusively reported by RacingNews365.com, the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board detailed Alpine’s part which drove away its prized possession.

However, Piastri might have been a Red Bull rookie, as Horner indicated in the most recent episode of the podcast F1: Beyond the Grid.

Piastri joins Red Bull?

Horner feels Red Bull would have handled the contract situation differently, saying Piastri would have been “under lock and key,” but calling the situation “tough” to comment on because he did not have all the details.

“He drove for the Arden team in Formula 4 and Formula Renault, and was obviously a significant talent,” Horner told host Tom Clarkson.

“There was an opportunity for Red Bull to look at him at the time, and we didn’t take up that option – which is something I regret.

“But what he went onto achieve in Formula 2 and Formula 3 is phenomenal.

“If he had been a driver here, there is no way he wouldn’t have been under lock and key for a period of time – I wasn’t party [to negotiations], so it’s difficult to judge what was promised or reneged on or so on.”

If Ricciardo was at Alpine, Horner would take him

Lando Norris will join Piastri at McLaren in replacement of fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo, but Horner thinks his former racer would still be worth considering if he were at Alpine.

“He’s a great, driver, but he’s obviously lost his way a bit, it would be great to see him remain in the sport,” Horner explained.

“I think I probably would [take him back if I were at Alpine] to be honest.

“They obviously know him from a couple of seasons ago, and he was very together during his last season there scoring podiums, and I think he’s the type of guy that you could rebuild him, it’s obviously been a not a great experience for him, for whatever reason.

“You’ve just got to think back to some of the drives that he did for us, some of the wins that he had, the podiums, some of the stunning overtakes that he was capable of.

“That’s still in there, I’m sure and he just needs a bit of a reset.

“Like in all sports, confidence is a big element, and for whatever reason, he hasn’t got the feeling from the car across two sets of regulations.

“So that’s probably eating away at his confidence, but there’s still a very, very capable driver in there, and you don’t just forget how to how to deliver.

So I hope for him he, he gets another opportunity and gets himself back on the grid for next year.”

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