Fernando Alonso and his career choices: a complicated story

2005: From Renault to McLaren

Fernando Alonso surprise announcements are customary. On December 19, 2005, while the Renault factories F1 Viry-Châtillon team and enstone are preparing to celebrate the Drivers' and Manufacturers' titles with a well-deserved vacation, the Asturian announces his departure from the Blue and Yellow to join the world vice-champion team, McLaren-Mercedes…for 2007!

The one who has just put an end to the reign of Michael Schumacher accepted the contract offered to him by Ron Dennis a year early. At Losange, it’s dejection. The man that Flavio Briatore has patiently polished since the early 2000s is packing up a few weeks after a dream 2005 season.

“This year, with Renault, I made my biggest dream come true, but I believe it is time for my career to find new challenges,” he defended. So it is with this in mind that I want to try to win with another team. »

Fernando Alonso will spend another season with Renault, and will keep his number 1 after a duel with the Red Baron.

2007: From McLaren to Renault

Fernando Alonso's outsized ambitions for British glory crash against a named bone Lewis Hamilton. While the status of leader seemed acquired to him, the Spaniard does not see the threat embodied by the 22-year-old rookie coming. The battle in Hungary, where Alonso prevents his teammate from completing a final lap in qualifying, lets tensions come to light.

Aware that Ron Dennis prefers Lewis Hamilton, whom he has been nurturing since karting, Fernando Alonso swallows his pride and decides to go the opposite way at the end of the year. He will drive for Renault again in 2008 and 2009, but the French team has lost its splendor in his absence.

Relations were tense at McLaren between Alonso and Hamilton… © DPPI

2014: From Ferrari to McLaren

Hired by the Prancing Horse to take over from Kimi Räikkönen in 2010, Fernando Alonso worked hard to bring the Reds back to the top of the podium, in vain. In 2010 then in 2012, the Pilot crowns extended their arms to him but each time, the tandem Red Bull-Sebastian Vettel crucifies him in the final sprint.

The revolution of the V6 turbo hybrid engine is missed by the Team in 2014. The F14T even turns out to be one of the worst single-seaters that the Bull of Asturias has been able to drive in Formula 1. Its lack of power, reliability and balance do not allow it to play the leading roles, while Mercedes atomizes the competition.

Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo is pushed out and replaced by Sergio Marchionne. At the start of the year, Marco Mattiacci took Stefano Domenicali's place as head of Sports Management. Fernando Alonso does not maintain good relations with all these beautiful people and the loss of motivation is felt. Mattiacci's approach to Sebastian Vettel finally convinced him to change scenery.

The Ferrari F14T was not a model of beauty or performance. © DPPI

Problem: no top team is able to receive it. We must turn to McLaren, which is making eye contact by having attracted Honda as a new engine partner in 2015. This is an opportunity to reconnect with the great golden period of the late 1980s and early 1990s for the company. of Woking. Fernando Alonso agrees to take part.

2018: From McLaren… to semi-retirement

The fine speeches have not been followed by any positive action. McLaren is sinking with a Japanese block unable to catch up with Mercedes and Renault. The abandonments keep coming and Fernando Alonso becomes a “meme” machine, Internet users delight in his shouting into the microphone of his helmet or his comedy scenes in front of the cameras.

The Spaniard struggles and broods over his frustration. McLaren's promises regarding a leap forward in reliability and performance from the Japanese partner are piling up but it is, once again, fed up (10th in 2016, 15th in 2017, 11th in 2018). In August 2018, he formalized a break from F1. It's not a farewell, but a goodbye, time to flourish in other disciplines likeEndurance ou le Dakar avec Toyota, mais aussi une tentative avortée à l’Indy 500 avec McLaren (mais plus Honda).

Fernando Alonso recharges his batteries away from the tumult of F1 and regains faith in his sport. With rage in his stomach, he returns to Renault's door in 2020. Cyril Abiteboul opens the doors wide and the story restarts with the French team for two years, in 2021 and 2022... until a new shock transfer puts an end to this Franco-Spanish idyll.

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