The Spaniard Fernando Alonso, double world champion of Formula 1, will leave the Alpine team, ex-Renault, with which he disputed this season his last year of contract, to race in 2023 at Aston Martin, announced Monday the English team in a press release.
“The whole Aston Martin team is very enthusiastic about welcoming Fernando’s incredible experience, his brilliant burst of speed and his racing expertise,” wrote the English team in a press release posted Monday morning on the Internet and on social networks. The recruitment of a special talent like Fernando’s is a strong statement of intent from an organization committed to developing a winning Formula 1 team.”
Fernando Alonso, 41 years old since last Friday, had won the title in 2005 and 2006 with the Renault team. The former Ferrari and McLaren driver joined Alpine last season, after a three-year break from F1 and an interlude in Indycar in the United States. Eighth this Sunday in Hungary when he started 6th on the starting grid, Esteban Ocon’s teammate currently occupies 10th place (41 points) in the World Championship after 13 races out of 22. In the constructors’ classification, Alpine is 4th with 99 points. Aston Martin is 9th (20 points).
The Spaniard will succeed, in the English team owned by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, the German Sebastian Vettel, four-time world champion, who announced his retirement last Thursday at the end of the current season. Several names had been mentioned to take over from him, including that of Mick Schumacher (Haas), the son of Michael, whom Vettel took under his wing and who had a decent first part of the season with one of the least efficient cars in the plateau.
“This team (Aston Martin) 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. I’ve known Lawrence and Lance (his son, the team’s other driver) for a long time and it’s obvious they have the ambition and passion to succeed in Formula 1. I’ve watched this team consistently attract worthy people with winning pedigrees. And I was informed of a huge commitment for a new factory and new resources at Silverstone. No one in Formula 1 today demonstrates such vision and total commitment to winning. That’s what makes this opportunity exciting for me. »
Last week, just after the announcement of Sebastian Vettel’s departure, Alonso had nevertheless declared that his “priority was to still be with Alpine” beyond the 2022 season: “We have been working and developing this project together for two years. now and we’re getting more and more competitive so my wish is probably to stay, but we haven’t sat down and moved forward on that kind of stuff so it’s all still in progress, explained the Spanish driver. From the start of the summer break, this will be the starting point that I would need to sit down and conclude something. The summer break begins Monday. He didn’t wait long after all.