McLaren boss Zak Brown claims Alpine tried to 'bully' Oscar Piastri in messy split

McLaren boss Zak Brown has sensationally claimed Alpine tried to "bully" Oscar Piastri into driving for them before their messy split in 2022.

The accusations come at the end of a torrid week for the French squad, which announced yet another team principal had departed the team – its third in two years and fifth in five – hours before announcing Jack Doohan had been "rotated" out of his seat.

An Alpine academy driver, Piastri in 2022 had contract as a reserve driver with both McLaren and Alpine.

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When Fernando Alonso shocked the sport by announcing he would move to Aston Martin in 2023, Alpine quickly released a press release announcing Piastri would be promoted into a race seat.

It triggered a messy contract saga that began with the Aussie's now famous tweet declaring the statement "wrong", and ended up in court after both teams claimed to have valid contracts.

The Contract Recognition Board eventually ruled in McLaren's favour, and the rest is history.

In a fresh interview with the Daily Mail (UK), Brown said the issuing of that statement was a deliberate move by Alpine.

"Their press release saying Oscar would get the race seat in 2023 did not even contain a quote from him," he said.

"They did not even ask him. They put the statement out as if it was a done deal. It was used to bully him into doing what they wanted."

They were ultimately unsuccessful, and he replaced Daniel Ricciardo for the 2023 season.

Piastri had been the third driver to leave Alpine in as many years. Before he and Alonso, Ricciardo had signed with McLaren during the pandemic-enforced delay ahead of the 2020 season.

The team's mismanagement at the top end has largely been blamed for each of the exits, particularly Piastri's, which could be traced right back to a staffer failing to submit legal paperwork on time, which meant he became a free agent.

It was all McLaren needed to get their foot in the door.

Alpine has also churned through five team principals since 2020, and Franco Colapinto will be their sixth driver in as many seasons.

Three years on, as Piastri sits atop the drivers' standings, the McLaren move would prove to be a pivotal move in his career.

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Brown told the Daily Mail Ricciardo had been given until Monaco in 2022 to prove himself worthy of the seat, and when that "didn't work out", Piastri "came high in our thoughts".

"Not only was he our reserve driver but we had a relationship with Mark Webber, who was managing him then as he does now," he said.

"Oscar had pedigree – he was winning in junior formulas in his first year.

"At the same time Lando (Norris) was killing it for us, so blooding another new, young driver was a 'risk' we could afford to take."