Alonso has opted to leave the Alpine team at the end of 2022, which – he admitted – had doubts about his long-term commitment to the Spaniard due to the age of the 42-year-old rider from Oviedo.

But the two-time Formula 1 world champion’s decision to switch to Aston Martin F1 proved to be one of the best of his career as he had his most competitive season yet with eight podiums in 22 GPs that year and fourth place in the final standings . after 2013.

He achieved six of his eight podium places in the first third of the season, but his performances continued to impress afterwards as the Aston Martin AMR23 fell behind in the development race against the cars from Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. Despite this development, Alonso also finished on the podium at the Dutch and Brazilian GPs.

The Spaniard turned 42 last July, but Mike Krak was asked at the start of the three-day event in Abu Dhabi whether Aston Martin had any concerns about extending the El Nano’s long-term contract. His answer was categorically negative, and when asked again whether Aston would like to extend his contract, he was correspondingly positive.

“I think as a team we were crazy about him from day one until now.” said the Luxembourg-born Silverstone team boss about Alonso. “To be honest, at the beginning I always thought we would have something like a honeymoon, but I’m very happy that we managed to extend this time a little longer.

I think we welcomed an excellent team player who was constructive at all times. Especially in difficult times. Of course, when the car was more competitive, it was easier to be constructive. But the real quality comes later.”Krak added.

One of these difficult moments occurred at the Mexican GP, ​​where Aston finished 17th and 18th in the race there: “In Mexico it would have been easy for both drivers to grab the microphones and bash the team or go against the team and we probably would have deserved that.”

But I think that’s where the true quality of the two drivers showed, and for me it was one of our biggest moments of the year, we managed to stick together as a team back then.”Krak added.

And on the burning question of extending Alonso’s contract beyond 2024, he added that there should be no question at all. As this positioning led many to believe that talks with the Spaniard for 2025 had already begun, Crack wanted to make it clear towards the end of the three days in Abu Dhabi that this had not yet happened.

“Obviously, this isn’t a decision I make alone.” he told Spanish broadcaster DAZN. “We have Lawrence Stroll and we have Martin Whitmarsh. We discuss these issues, but all I can say is that in my opinion, Fernando Alonso’s age at the level he works at is just a number. I think he is like Roger Federer or Valentino Rossi who have had an extensive sports career.

I’ve worked with drivers in the past who weren’t even 30 years old and said they had “achieved everything” when in fact they hadn’t achieved much. And then you have an example like Alonso, with an excellent mentality and unwavering determination.”concluded Mike Krak.

Finally, former F1 driver Robert Kubica’s recent statement about Alonso in comparison to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen is also interesting. “In my opinion, Alonso is the strongest of all, even with an uncompetitive car.” said the Pole. And when asked by Gurulandia whether Max Verstappen would be there, he replied: “with an uncompetitive car, yes”.