LThe game of musical chairs for the 2023 Formula 1 season has begun: double world champion Fernando Alonso will leave Alpine at the end of the season to succeed Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin, the English team announced on Monday. One champion replaces another, Alonso thus recovering the seat of the quadruple world champion (at Red Bull), who announced last Thursday his retirement from F1 at the end of the 2022 season.
“The whole Aston Martin team is very excited to welcome Fernando’s incredible experience, his brilliant burst of speed and his racing expertise,” wrote the English team in a statement posted Monday morning on the Internet. and on social networks. “The recruitment of a special talent like that of Fernando is a strong declaration of intent on the part of an organization committed to developing a winning team in Formula 1”, adds the text.
A veteran of the grid (he celebrated his 41st birthday on Friday), the Taurus of Asturias, considered one of the best drivers of his generation, had assured earlier this season that he was ready to stay in F1 for “two or three more years “.
At the end of the contract with the French manufacturer, it is therefore on the other side of the Channel that the driver will continue his journey in F1, with “a multi-annual contract”, takes care to specify the Aston Martin team. It was called Force India when it was owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, then Racing Point when it was first bought by Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian billionaire, before it changed its name.
This team “is clearly putting in the energy and commitment it takes to win, so it’s one of the most exciting teams in Formula 1 today,” Alonso wrote in the same statement. . And to continue: “I know Lawrence and Lance [son fils, l’autre pilote de l’écurie] for a long time and it is obvious that they have the ambition and the passion to succeed in Formula 1.”
A burst of speed intact
Alonso drove in F1 between 2001 and 2018, winning the world title with Renault in 2005 and 2006. The Spaniard also raced for McLaren in 2007, then between 2015 and 2018 with disappointing results, the English team being at the bottom of the wave. He had previously spent five years at Ferrari (2010-2014), without managing to win a new title, first against the ogre Vettel, then against Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.
Lacking the means to win again in F1, the native of Oviedo then left F1 for two years. Time to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018 and 2019, the title of world endurance champion in 2018-2019, with Toyota, and to participate in the 500 Miles of Indianapolis and the Dakar rally-raid.
Returned to F1 last year, at 39, at Alpine, Renault’s new identity, he finished at a modest 10e place at the end of last season, ahead of his French teammate Esteban Ocon.
“I always have the thirst and the ambition to fight at the forefront, and I want to be part of an organization that is committed to learning, developing and succeeding,” assured “Nando” on Monday. And if he continues, there is no question for him of appearing in the middle of the table: “I intend to win again in this sport and I must therefore seize the opportunities that seem good to me. »
Son 98e and last podium, to date, dates back to the 2021 Qatar GP. His last victory, the 32e, at the 2013 Spanish GP in Barcelona, in his native country. Alonso is currently 10e of the World Championship, after 13 out of 22 races, with 41 points. On Sunday he finished 8e of the Hungarian Grand Prix, ahead of Ocon, because of a poor choice of tires by the French team, for its two drivers.
On the side of Aston Martin, the team took the 7e place (out of 10) in the constructors’ championship last year. She is currently 9e and penultimate, ahead of the American Haas, while her single-seaters are equipped with Mercedes engines.
With the departure of the Spaniard, Alpine now has a free seat which should go to its reserve driver, the Australian Oscar Piastri, 21, crowned Formula 2 champion in 2021. It would be the bet of youth against that of experience, even if Alonso kept a burst of speed and motivation intact.
