Alpine and McLaren have reached an agreement over Oscar Piastri, which will potentially see the Australian race for the latter if it is in need of a replacement driver.
Piastri is currently Alpine’s reserve driver, having won the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship while part of its junior academy.
Prior to his success in F2, Piastri won the FIA Formula 3 series in 2020, and has been touted as a future full-time Formula 1 driver.
McLaren has no official reserve racer, but has had options on Mercedes reserves Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries for the last two years.
However, Piastri may now be called on by McLaren should it need a driver to stand in for Daniel Ricciardo or Lando Norris this year.
“In the spirit of offering maximum racing opportunities to our stable of young talent, we have agreed that McLaren may call upon Alpine F1 Team reserve driver Oscar Piastri in the event one of their drivers is unable to race,” read a statement from Alpine.
“Oscar will remain fully contracted to Alpine, and we will retain first options on his services.”
Ricciardo is currently in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19 on Friday evening, however it is expected that he will be cleared to race next weekend.
As well as Vandoorne and de Vries, McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl confirmed on Saturday that ex-F1 driver Paul di Resta is also an option for the Woking-based squad.
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