Fernando Alonso is a driver whose career is guided by passion and love for motorsport. The Spaniard is now 41 years old, but does not want to stop yet. The world champion of 2005 and 2006 has been away for two seasons, but returned to the paddock in 2021. The Spaniard has since shown that the fire is still present.
Alpine F1 Team
The Spaniard clearly could not say goodbye to the royal class and had repeatedly indicated that he did not rule out a possible return. Alonso finally announced in 2020 that he would return to his old employer Renault in 2021, as a teammate of Esteban Ocon.
In 2021, Alonso scored 81 points and achieved a podium. This earns him tenth place in the world championship. A great return for the Spaniard, who also managed to stay ahead of teammate Ocon in terms of points total. In 2022, the tables turned. While Alonso still had a pretty good season, Ocon performed just a little bit better. Alpine assumed that it could still appeal to Alonso in 2023, but came home from a rude awakening. Alonso announced just before the summer break in 2022 that he would take Sebastian Vettel's place at Aston Martin. Together with Lance Stroll at his side, he hopes to make a positive change there.
Aston Martin F1 Team
Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso will succeed Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin in 2023. The British racing stable announces that the 41-year-old Spaniard has signed a contract for several years.
"This team clearly has the energy and dedication to win and is one of the most exciting teams in Formula 1 right now," - F.ALONSO
Alonso said of Canadian team owner Lawrence Stroll, the father of the other Aston Martin driver. Lance Stroll: “I have known Lawrence and Lance for a long time and it is clear that they have the ambition and passion to succeed in Formula 1.”
Alonso says he has seen the team grow. “No one in Formula 1 is showing more vision and dedication to win at the moment. I still have the hunger and ambition to compete at the front and want to be part of an organization that wants to learn, develop and succeed”, says the chastened driver. “I want to win again and therefore I have to seize this opportunity.”
For Lawrence Stroll, Alonso has always been a winner. “It was therefore a logical step to invite him to become part of the development of this winning team,” said the Canadian billionaire. “We quickly found out that we have the same ambitions and values.”
Bahrain Grand Prix 2023:
Fernando Alonso thinks he can fight for a podium place in the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Spaniard qualified fifth for the race at the Bahrain International Circuit, behind the Red Bulls and Ferraris. Ahead of qualifying in Bahrain, even more was perhaps expected from Fernando Alonso, having set the fastest time in the second and third free practice sessions. In Q3, however, the two-time world champion put his Aston Martin on P5, 0.628 seconds behind pole sitter Max Verstappen. Alonso did, however, keep the Mercedes of George Russell (sixth) and Lewis Hamilton (seventh) behind him. Lance Stroll qualified eighth in the other Aston Martin.
When asked if he can go for the podium on Sunday, Alonso replied: "We'll see, yes. I'm smiling because I'm going for the podium in the first race… It feels too good to be true. But certainly, with what we've seen from our car so far... And from the past we know that the Aston Martin handles the tires very well. So if we get an opportunity, we will definitely grab it.”
”We knew in practice that we would be around third, fourth or fifth," Alonso continued. The 41-year-old driver from Oviedo is enjoying the AMR23 to the fullest. "It was amazing. The whole weekend is unreal for us. In every session our car felt too good to be true. Before qualifying we expected to be half a second behind Red Bull and that was quite right.”
"It feels very strange to me to say that we are starting fifth and that we may be aiming for more," said Alonso. “To be honest, we thought that the top three would be unattainable this year, given the lead they had last season. Maybe we could try to lead the midfield. However, now we're in P5 and saying we might fight with Ferrari for the podium, that's unbelievable."
Alonso is wary of too much euphoria in the run-up to the race. “We have to keep working, keep both feet on the ground and run the game in the best way possible,” he said. “We can't make any mistakes, we need a good start and good pit stops and then we'll see where we end up. But so far we are living our dream.”
Fernando Alonso has been named Driver of the Day in his first race as an Aston Martin driver. The Spaniard managed to cross the line in third place in Sakhir.
Alonso started his race in fifth. During the start of the race, however, the Spaniard had to give up his position to the Mercedes team. This was partly caused by his injured teammate Lance Stroll. The Canadian made an error of judgment that caused him to brake much too late and hit the back of Alonso's car.
As a result, the Spaniard had to go off the gas in order to keep his car on the track. However, it made no difference to the end result. After all, Red Bull was too fast today and Alonso crossed the line in third (the maximum achievable). It was therefore not a difficult decision for fans to declare the Spaniard Driver of the Day.
Fernando Alonso - 53.3%
Pierre Gasly - 6.5%
Max Verstappen - 6.3%
Lewis Hamilton - 5.5%
Charles Leclerc - 4.4%
Comments