“I still have the hunger and ambition to fight to be at the forefront and want to be part of an organization dedicated to learning, growing and succeeding.” with these words Fernando Alonso announced that in the coming years he will be a candidate Aston Martin, leaving behind Alpinethe team that took him out of the withdrawal in 2020 and with whom he returned to the podium last year. The worrying thing about these statements is that they could carry over to other times in the two-time world champion’s career where he has changed teams.
In 2014 Alonso got out of ferrari after his first poor year since his arrival to chart a course for his interesting project McLaren-Honda. The challenge was to win again and become world champion for the third time, thus capitalizing on the peak of his career. However, disaster was soon confirmed, that’s why he left the competition in 2018 with almost as many DNFs (24) as Grand Prix points (25). In 2020, when his return to Formula 1 was announced, he assured that he did so with the same goal of victory in mind. In both cases the balance is the same: 0 championships, 0 wins and settled in the middle or bottom zone.
No one doubts that Fernando Alonso is not one of the greatest drivers of all time in F1, the numbers are there and the videos of their matches too. Nonetheless, making your decision when it comes to managing your sports career, it’s more than questionable. Moreover, in very few cases their departures took place in a positive environment within the team. Either because of their environment or because of how demanding the Asturian can be, the reality is this since leaving Ferrari in 2014 he hasn’t had the slightest chance of winning again consistently. And that was almost 8 years ago.
Now, the two-time world champion and three-time runner-up will chart a course for Aston Martin, a surprise move that has caught everyone off guard. Therefore, it is time to analyze the context surrounding the decision as well as the arguments for and against its landing in Silverstone.
Fernando Alonso’s signature frame from Aston Martin
The 2018 Force India market from Lawrence Stroll Ending up turning the team into Aston Martin was motivated by building a better future for his son, Lance, in Formula 1. No one should be surprised that the future of the English team depends entirely on what the Canadian wants billionaire his offspring.
In this sense, his signature Sebastian Vettel for 2021 he followed a logical line. The German would promote the project due to his championship pedigree, be able to speed up development times. On the other hand, if Stroll beat the former Ferrari and Red Bull driver, it would justify not only his presence in F1 but also his supremacy at home. Aston Martin. While Vettel could be said to have had more than delivered given the team’s performance, the results continued to be poor. Only one podium at Baku 2021 and two fifth places at Spain and Belgium 2021 are all that is left of a team that has invested a huge amount of money to make the jump to the top.
With Alpinehis story was the classic three-for-two pilot feud living room. One of them was already insured (Esteban Ocon), but the other remained in dispute between them Alonso and young Oscar Piastri, represented by Mark Webber. The F2 and F3 champion plays the role of test driver for the French team, but His environment pressured Alpine to give him a seat in 2023 otherwise he himself would find it far from Enstone.
Alonso wanted to sign a two-year deal that would guarantee the project he joined would continue, something Alpin seemed unwilling to accept due to pressure from Piastri’s entourage. In other words, the Spaniard did not want to invest three of the last years of his career developing a car so that in 2024 he could not enjoy the positive results.
In the past, there were rumors that Aston Martin tried to sign Alonso for this 2022 season, but the Spaniard rejected the proposal since he believed in the work of the Alps. Now, months later, Lawrence Stroll and the two-time world champion have agreed to join forces.
Is Fernando Alonso right to sign for Aston Martin?
For
The Alpine project generally seems to have stalled. Since returning to Formula 1 in 2016 under the Renault name, their highest level in the constructors’ championship has been fourth place in 2018, thanks to the financial disaster of Force India. During this time they succeeded extreme victory in Hungary in 2021 Y four pedestals, something that has not changed in this 2022. Far away from the top 3 and with enough distance from the bottom to change his presence in the mid lane.
In a sense, many teams would like that stability, more so in a world as changing as Formula 1. Not for Alonso. The Spaniard wants to win, he wants to show his speed and he has a pride that drives him to make the most of his car and put it where, a priori, it shouldn’t be.
In this sense, one of the keys to success in F1 is that a team’s technical and executive group is stable and talented, almost more than that on the track. Something exactly in Alpine / Renault it never was, with constant changes to its sports dome. Aston Martin has long spent huge sums of money on engineering, materials, technology and facilities to reach the top. Which doesn’t guarantee anything but offers a more optimistic scenario than Alpine’s.
Against
On the other hand, investing large sums of money in a project does not mean that things are going well. Something with which Fernando Alonso can give a good description of his scene McLarenHonda.
Apart from the British team, not long ago this overspending also took another car brand that started in F1 with the same goal as Aston Martin: Toyota. They built their own wind tunnel, leaving amazing amounts money, even the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka was moved to the brand-owned Fuji circuit. All this for a handful of poles and podiums and no wins.
Regardless of the reliability of Aston Martin’s project financially, on the track the Silverstones have shown nothing since leaving behind Racing Point. In 2021 with a model identical to 2020 they were not nearly as consistent and 2021 was at times the second car of the season.
The risk Alonso took this year is remarkable. In front of him is the opportunity to definitely restart your career in the most critical extent of the same or farewell in the same way as at McLaren in 2018, i.e. the closing of the platoon. They say that the important thing is not how a trajectory begins, but how it ends legacy Spanish can be very questionable depending on what’s going on at Aston Martin.
