Mere days after his 41st birthday, Formula 1 was shocked by the sudden announcement that Fernando Alonso would switch from Alpine to Aston Martin for 2023 on a multi-year deal.
A full 22 years after making his Grand Prix debut at the age of 19, Alonso will enter into his 20th full campaign in Formula 1 with his fifth different team, moving to Silverstone to join Aston Martin.
Of those four teams Alonso has previous raced for – Minardi (now AlphaTauri), Renault (now Alpine), McLaren and Ferrari – the two-time world champion has won races for three of them, only failing to win with Minardi during his debut season in 2001. Something Alonso himself count not be blamed for.
In moving from Alpine to Aston Martin, Alonso is clearly taking a risk. After all, Alpine currently sit fourth in the constructors’ championship, 79 points and five places ahead of Aston Martin. Alonso is clear that he is making this move based on his innate desire to win races and, with it, finally become world champion once again.
“I intend to win again in this sport and therefore I have to take the opportunities that feel right to me,” he said when announcing his switch for 2023.
But with Aston Martin having struggled so much during the transition to the new ground effect cars introduced in 2022, will there be more wins in Alonso’s future?
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On the surface, moving from a team fighting for ‘best of the rest’ honours to a team fighting for minor points finishes feels like a big step backwards for Alonso. However, this is a decision made with the long term in mind.
Since being bought by a team of benefactors including Lawrence Stroll, Aston Martin have invested millions of pounds into their facilities and their personnel, hiring some significant paddock figures and building a major extension next to their factory in Silverstone.
“I have watched as the team has systematically attracted great people with winning pedigrees, and I have become aware of the huge commitment to new facilities and resources at Silverstone,” said Alonso.
No other team in recent memory has had such a sudden and sizeable injection of funds and potential growth as Aston Martin is currently undergoing. With Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes holding a virtual monopoly over the podium positions, it’ll likely take the level of investment Aston Martin is receiving for any team to be able to join that upper echelon.
If the team can deliver him a car that can win, there’s also nothing to suggest Alonso has lost…
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