F1 – Fernando Alonso still throws heavy weight on Alpine

In an interview with our Spanish colleagues El Larguero, Fernando Alonso returned to the Alpine episode. Between 2019 and 2020, the Bull of Asturias took a break from Formula 1 after inconclusive performances with McLaren. In 2021, he returned to his first love, Renault. During his two years with the French team, he was on the podium once and finished in the top 10 in the World Drivers’ Championship. With his teammate at the time, Esteban Ocon, the two drivers managed to tick off the French team’s objective by finishing 4th in the constructors’ championship in 2022. But everything did not go as planned. The Spaniard was ready to continue the Alpine adventure, but the team delayed before extending his driver. The double world champion did not hesitate to steal the French team.

Fernando Alonso’s statement

“Well there are a bunch of circumstances, the first is Vettel retired, I have to be honest. It was a bit of a surprise announcement to see that there was an opening at Aston Martin. So that was the first factor. The second is that with Alpine the negotiations lasting several months never came to fruition. We agreed on everything, but the paper [le contrat] never arrived to put a signature and therefore I noticed a lack of professionalism at that time at Alpine. Then at Aston Martin – I believe the announcement of Vettel’s retirement was made on the Thursday of the Hungarian Grand Prix – and on Saturday everything was clear and the contract was in front of me and this desire to have me seduced me . It was a real adventure, it was the seventh [équipe] in the constructors’ championship, there was a risk, but it worked well and the intuition was good this time.”