{"id":419162,"date":"2026-01-17T13:27:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T13:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419162\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T13:27:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T13:27:25","slug":"oscar-piastri-makes-humorous-dig-at-alpine-f1-snub-in-google-ad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419162\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri makes humorous dig at Alpine F1 snub in Google ad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fans spotted a hilarious throwback to Oscar Piastri<\/a> snubbing Alpine over a McLaren Formula 1<\/a> seat in new Google Pixel advertisement.<\/p>\n

The Australian mounted a valiant title bid against team-mate \u2013 and eventual 2025 F1 Champion Lando Norris \u2013 and Max Verstappen thanks to a competitive MCL39 last season.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old, who had been contracted to Alpine<\/a>\u2018s junior programme however, signed up with the Woking-based team<\/a> from the 2023 season onwards.<\/p>\n

But a nasty contractual prelude, in which he publicly denounced the Anglo-French marque\u2019s own announcement that he would be driving for them in 2023, has since become embedded in F1 folklore. <\/p>\n

While Piastri has restrained himself from speaking out on this subject in the past, Google\u2019s latest advert promoting the Pixel smartphone has seen the Australian break that particular trend \u2013 and in hilarious measure. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know I don\u2019t always show it, but winning does excite me,\u201d he can be heard saying with his patent poker face.<\/p>\n

The frame then moves onto two men replacing a picture of the Alpine mountains with a painting of a Papaya fruit just as Piastri walks into the room.<\/p>\n

Referencing his decision to sever ties with Alpine for McLaren, Piastri then hilariously adds, \u201cSo when I see a chance to get ahead, I will change things up.\u201d <\/p>\n

This would have come as a particularly brutal dig for the Enstone-based squad given the competitive difference between the two teams. McLaren won its second-consecutive Constructors\u2019 title last year while Alpine finished dead last in the standings. <\/p>\n

\"OscarOscar Piastri was previously with Alpine before an acrimonious exit which led to his switch to McLaren<\/p>\n

Fans were quick to notice this as well. One fan even commented, \u201cThe picture switch is absolutely diabolical\u2026 I love it\u201d<\/p>\n

Google has been a key technical partner for the Woking-based team\u2019s F1 operations since 2022. Currently, the American tech giants are on a multi-year deal. Noticeably, however, they are yet to come onboard for the team\u2019s highly-anticipated World Endurance Championship entry in 2027. <\/p>\n

\u201cSwitching to Google Pixel was an easy decision,\u201d Piastri explained. \u201cAm I a Formula 1 racing driver? Yep. Am I a professional actor with a full emotional range? Nope. But I\u2019m excited on the inside to be on the winning team with Google Pixel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Suzana Ristevski, Google Australia\u2019s Chief Marketing Officer lauded Piastri for \u201cembodying\u201d the spirit of the brand, further strengthening Google\u2019s integration with McLaren. <\/p>\n

\u201cOscar embodies the \u2018never settle\u2019 mindset that drives Google Pixel \u2013 he is relentlessly chasing the best, just like we are,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to bring such iconic homegrown talent to the brand. This is a uniquely Australian campaign \u2013 it\u2019s full of delight and showcases the very best of Google Pixel in a way that we know will really resonate with local fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE \u2013 \u2018S*** happens\u2019: McLaren pledges to \u2018bounce back\u2019 after 2025 F1 \u2018mistakes\u2019 <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fans spotted a hilarious throwback to Oscar Piastri snubbing Alpine over a McLaren Formula 1 seat in new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[821,64,63,817,913,806,805,803,804,2333,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-419162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-alpine","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-mclaren","13":"tag-motor","14":"tag-motor-sports","15":"tag-motosport","16":"tag-motosports","17":"tag-oscar-piastri","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}