Oscar Piastri has reflected on the turbulent period surrounding his Formula 1 future in 2022 in F1’s Off the Grid, explaining how challenging it was to spend a full season on the sidelines despite having just won the Formula 2 championship.

“It was certainly a tough time. Naturally, as a racing driver, you want to go racing,” Piastri said, describing the frustration of watching from the garage rather than competing on track.

Although the season without racing proved difficult, Piastri admitted it also gave him a broader understanding of the sport. “That year, not racing was tough, definitely. It did allow me to view some things from the outside a little bit easier: being part of a weekend, understanding what media commitments are going to be like, what the sponsor commitments are going to be like, just the general rhythm of the season. I learned a few things about that, but it was a tough time,” he explained.

Behind the scenes, Alpine was facing a complex driver situation, with three strong candidates fighting for two race seats. Piastri was pushing for promotion alongside Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, and various scenarios were explored before Alonso’s decision to leave for Aston Martin escalated the situation.

Alpine subsequently announced Piastri as a race driver for 2023, a move that prompted an immediate public response from the Australian. “I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year,” he wrote at the time. “This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”

It later emerged that Piastri had already signed a contract with McLaren, sending the dispute to the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board. Looking back on that moment, he admitted he was well aware of the scale of what was unfolding. “I kind of knew that it was going to be a pretty big story,” he said, adding that there were clear reasons behind making his stance public and that “it wasn’t just me going out of my ways to announce to the world that I’m not racing.”

While the CRB process ultimately worked in his favour, Piastri acknowledged the pressure of the situation. “I mean, I certainly look back on it now with some laughs. Definitely at the time, it wasn’t so funny,” he admitted, describing the episode as another extremely tense moment in an already difficult year.

The ruling cleared the way for Piastri to make his Formula 1 debut with McLaren in 2023, a milestone he described as special but sobering at the same time. “That was an incredible moment,” he said, before noting the reality of reaching the sport’s top level: “Then also kind of hits you that everything you’ve done previously almost doesn’t matter now.”