Is Alonso making a good choice by leaving Alpine for Aston Martin?

Facts : Fernando Alonso decided to leave Alpine at the end of the 2022 season Formula 1 to pilot a Aston Martin over several years with Lance stroll. The Spanish driver thus leaves the French team, in the middle of a fight for fourth place in the Manufacturers' championship, to join an ambitious team but which is struggling to progress since the change of name from Racing Point to Aston Martin in 2021.

YES, by Medhi Casaurang-Vergez

The Formula 1 fan is naive. Since Fernando Alonso has been doing this to us, we should be warned! The Taurus of Asturias has been a fan of transfers, surprising at first glance, since the mid-2000s, when he had barely sealed his first title with Renault F1 Team. The killer of Michael Schumacher in 2005 likes daring sporting challenges (join McLaren a year later in 2007, raise the Team Ferrari of the Schumi era in 2010, rekindling the McLaren Honda flame in 2015), and too bad if they were not crowned with coronations. But the alliance formed with Aston Martin is different in that it is more motivated by “stupid money”. This term, which comes straight from lucrative sports like football, designates athletes lured by the incredible profit of a new employer without paying attention to the sporting project.

For Fernando Alonso, the team bought by dad Stroll has no sporting interest. He knows that he will not obtain the third Drivers' crown which has been denied to him since 2007. The English manufacturer is not a top team and occupies the soft underbelly of the peloton with worrying regularity. After Hungary, the green single-seater team is in ninth and penultimate place in the Manufacturers' standings with a measly 20 points, whileAlpine is at the foot of the podium (99 pts).

If Fernando Alonso joins Aston Martin, it's to cash a nice check. It's not a knife stuck in the backAlpine ; At the end of 2005, then at the end of 2009, he had no qualms about leaving Renault F1 Team behind. Why would he change his character? His ego will be flattered by the Saudi buyers of Aston Martin (second shareholder behind Lawrence Stroll) who will make him their ambassador to the four corners of the globe at the wheel of the prestigious brand's premium vehicles. His salary will be much higher than what he was offered Alpine, and it's always a good thing to do, if there is no other way out capable of providing him with a car capable of winning.

© Joao Filipe / DPPI

Its rating has skyrocketed over the past two years. In 2020, while he flourished at the Dakar and in Endurance, the F1 paddock no longer really knew if Fernando Alonso had the strong back (and the youth) to settle into a cockpit of a car while remaining fast. However, its performance with Alpine (podium in Qatar among others) amazed observers. Yes, Fernando Alonso is still that angry lion that we knew with the V10-powered Renaults of the early 2000s! It won't lose its mojo next year, and it's a boon for Aston Martin to replace a Sebastian Vettel completely unphased by an angry Spaniard.

NO, by Dorian Grangier

Monday morning, 10 a.m. The F1 world is shaking. No one expects such an announcement, nay, such a shock. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 2023. A real snub to Alpine-Renault. The team that raised him, that made him grow, that made him world champion and then took him in, twice. And twice, the Spaniard took the English route. At McLaren in 2007, and now at Aston Martin next season.

A tragedy for all A arrow fans, who are and will continue to be incomprehensible for a while. Why such a choice ? Why leave a team that finally seemed to be taking off? And above all, why Aston Martin ? For many, Fernando Alonso made the wrong choice. With the French team, the double world champion was installed, knew the places and the team, was an integral part of the brand's project, and not only in F1. He was a true ambassador of the Dieppe firm, which was dedicated to his cause. Laurent Red recently spoke of a seat reserved for him with a view to Le Mans with the LMDh.

What an end to the season between Fernando Alonso and Alpine ? © DPPI

By leaving the French team, Fernando Alonso joins an Aston Martin team in full construction. Yes, the name sounds. Yes, the project is inspiring. But is a long-term vision at 41 really reasonable? Certainly, the native of Oviedo seems as indestructible as a Nokia 3310 and as efficient as at the time of his two titles, but will he be in 2 years? Also, will Aston Martin be able to give him an opportunity to play for the title over the next two, or even three years? When we see the current performance of the AMR22, doubt is more than permissible: it is legitimate.

Finally, Alonso will join a team dedicated to… Lance Stroll, the son of the “owner”. We know the Spaniard is hungry for power within a team, but at Aston, the king will be dad. Will he then be able to fully express himself? Above all, in the quest for the world title, Lance Stroll is not the ideal weapon. Neither as a model teammate, nor as a genius developer. At present, it is difficult to say whether the Bull of Asturias made the right choice. Only time will tell, but this departure once again looks like a dubious bet. And as an admirer of the champion Alonso, I hope I'm wrong.

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