No they didn't. They wanted Prost to stay on but Had cut him out of the rumour mill and decision making and he didn't like that and left of his own accord. Budkowski announced his was let go but he was not told overnight.peewon wrote: ↑07 Aug 2022, 15:27I think the fact that you don't have a contract signed is a fair warning. When Otmar says he's was surprised by Alonso leaving, what he means is that he's surprised Alonso found an option he liked.diffuser wrote: ↑07 Aug 2022, 14:10It's a roll of a dice, which car will be faster next year. So from that side there is no real edge , one way or the other. I also get that Otmar's language at times was favouring Ocon...
Forget the Piastri saga, Fernando has nothing to do with that. He does not write those contracts, nor is responsible for knowing what's in those contracts. Let's just not forget that Alpine opened the door for Alonso to make his comeback. Just for that, I think, they deserved fair warning that he was leaving.
Alpine was banking on the fact that Alonso would not have an option that he would like. Otmar was openly criticizing Alonso, out of context, trying to negotiate against him publicly.
And it's also pretty rich for Alpine to complain about being blindsided when they took the hatchet to Prost and Budkowski in the middle of the night
Maybe you're on to something...