Oscar Piastri has spoken publicly for the first time since he was confirmed as a McLaren driver for 2023.
On Friday, Formula 1’s Contract Recognition Board unanimously ruled a two-year deal between the Australian and McLaren signed on July 4 was valid despite Alpine claiming they had a legal contract with Piastri.
The Woking-based team then wasted no time in announcing the reigning champion, before Oscar posted his first reaction in a social media video.
“Hi everyone. The news is finally out. I’ll be joining the Formula 1 grid in 2023 with McLaren,” he said.
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“I am super excited to be to be joining the grid and with such a prestigious team like McLaren, I have no doubt it’s a great place to start my career. It’s been a long road up until this point.”
After the ruling, Alpine accepted the outcome and considered the matter closed, and Piastri made sure to include the team in his thank yous.
“I’ve been racing for 12 years and this was my dream from the very beginning,” he added. “So I just want to thank everybody who supported me throughout my journey, including my colleagues at Alpine for the past few years.
“Also my family in particular who have made a significant contribution to support [me] in my career from the very beginning.
“I can’t wait to be representing papaya. I’ll be doing my best to drive as quickly as possible and get some good results. So looking forward to working with the team, working alongside Lando [Norris] and can’t wait to see you all soon.”
Also commenting after the announcement, McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl voiced confidence in Piastri.
“We wanted to have [Oscar] on board. He wanted to be with us,” the German told Sky Sports.
“So we are very, very, very happy. We are absolutely convinced about his talent and his potential as well. He’s young, he is full of energy. He has the right amount of self-confidence as well but at the same time, he is very humble.
“He’s aware of how big the challenge is for him next year. I think we are a team that’s shown in the past we can deal with young guys coming into the sport.”