Fernando Alonso to Aston Martin: Is it a good move?

Arthur Viana; August 1, 2022

So the Formula 1 world went upside down in a matter of days. First, the 4x World Champion and legend of the sport, Sebastian Vettel, announced his retirement from F1 at the end of the 2022 season at 35 years old, a big surprise and motive of sadness for every fan. However, that meant that Lance Stroll would have aa new teammate, as the Aston Martin team had an open seat for 2023. Names like Daniel Ricciardo, Nyck de Vries, Nico Hulkenberg and even Oscar Piastri were brought up, but this Sunday, Aston Martin shocked the world as they announced 2x Champion Fernando Alonso as their new driver for the 2023 season. Alonso is 41 years old, and he signed a multi-year contract with Aston Martin, what just shows how incredible his longevity really is. However, we all know how the Aston Martin F1 team is not doing well at all. Since the rebranding from last year, they’ve only managed one podium (Vettel, Azerbaijan 2021) and a few points, but were never challenging the big guys. In 2022, the situation is even worse, with their car being the second worst of the grid, with only Williams behind them. So, was this a good decision from Alonso?

First, we have to consider Alonso’s point of view. He’s been driving amazingly this season, with incredible pace and showing just how excellent of a driver he still is. Time and age aren’t factors against him, and he’s proving that every weekend. He’s also been one of the unluckiest drivers of the grid this season, losing an immense number of points through little to no fault of his own, but that’s a whole other conversation. Anyways, after making sure he deserved to stay on the sport for a few more years, he was probably looking to stay at Alpine, a team that’s showing more and more promise as the season goes, by renewing his contract that went only until the end of this season. But Alpine had a difficult choice on their hands: Keep a 41-year-old, but still great Fernando Alonso, or, take a chance on “the future”. By that I mean Oscar Piastri, a 21-year-old Alpine academy driver who dominated the Formula 2 season in 2021. As you probably noticed, they decided to go with Piastri.

It is unquestionable that Piastri deserves a chance in F1, and it is understandable why Alpine made this move, even though Alonso has been doing an amazing job this year. By the way, to question the legitimacy of Fernando Alonso in F1 at this point is close to being absurd, but Alpine at least had a reasonable explanation to dump him. Continuing, the options on the grid for Alonso weren’t that broad. Most teams have their driver lineup set up for 2023 already, besides Aston Martin. As a result, he ended up there. Is it good for the team? Definitely. To have a driver with Alonso’s level after they had a name like Vettel shows that they mean business. But, will this be good for Alonso? Well, I can’t be 100% sure, but if I have to guess how Aston Martin will be next year, I have to say no to that question.

One of the biggest talking points about Aston Martin is the environment around the team. How did a team that was only growing as Racing Point drop the way they did after rebranding to Aston Martin, having such big investment and getting a major signing with Vettel? I mean, they were the third best car on the grid in 2020. I don’t want to point fingers, but most of the rumors end up blaming Lawrence Stroll. The father of Lance Stroll and owner of the Aston Martin F1 Team. People usually say that he’s very bossy and has an intrusive personality, wanting to take part in the cars’ development even though he was never a racing driver, making the atmosphere heavy with his crazy demands. That might not be true, but I can see why people would think that from a guy such as Lawrence Stroll. On the other hand, we’ve had the chance to see how Alonso behaves in a bad car. His second spell at McLaren from 2015 to 2018 broadcasted his anger and frustration, and also gave us some of the most iconic radio moments ever, like “the engine feels good, much slower than before” or “GP2 engine, GP2”.

If Aston Martin doesn’t step up their game, they’re going to have big problems. An environment that already might not be ideal would only get worse if they have such a competitive driver like Alonso behind the wheel, and he’d probably demand even more from the team than Lawrence. This clash of strong personalities might not be good for anyone, making a possible harmonious relationship break before it has even started. To end things off, I must say I’m not optimistic. But I hope things work for them, because Alonso is undoubtedly a driver that deserves to compete at the front.