The renewal of Fernando Alonso by Alpine for the next 2022 Formula 1 season was almost signed, even both parties stated that only “10 minutes” were needed to sit down and talk about the final conditions for the Oviedo to continue with the team that saw him return to the Great Circus after his first withdrawal.
In Enstone, as in the entire paddock, they were surprised by the news that appeared first thing in the morning the day after the Hungarian Grand Prix, and that is that Aston Martin announced the signing of the two-time world champion to be the substitute for Sebastian Vettel in 2023, thus leaving a free space that they wanted to occupy with Oscar Piastri .
A few months after the shock suffered by the French team, who also failed to secure the services of their academy driver, who will go to McLaren with Lando Norris, the company’s CEO, Laurent Rossi , explained everything that happened and what they offered Fernando Alonso to stay.
The Spaniard expected a long-term contract due to the performance he was showing despite being over 40 years old , but at Alpine they were looking closely at the immediate future: “We wanted to keep Fernando [Alonso], but we couldn’t commit ourselves for more than two years because we had an option of three with Piastri. We were always clear that we wanted to focus on the future, and the future was called Oscar [Piastri].”
“We offered Fernando the most we could,” revealed the director of the French brand in an interview with AMuS . “It was a contract for one season plus another. He could have raced endurance with us after those two years, that was the plan, we wanted to keep the driver of the present and secure the one of the future.”
Rossi wanted to praise the man who is still at the controls of one of his cars, but he gave one of the reasons why they did not reach an agreement with the Spaniard: “Fernando is fantastic, he drives at a very high level. one of the best drivers of all time, but he is 41 years old, he will be 43 in two years, and you can’t plan that far in advance”.
“Formula 1 is a very demanding sport,” said the French leader. “At that age, the drop in performance can come from one year to the next, so we couldn’t commit ourselves for that long. I am responsible for more than 3,000 workers at Alpine, and Luca de Meo for more than 240,000 at Renault, so that we cannot make irrational decisions that involve risks”.
“[Alonso] shouldn’t have worried about the option beyond a year. If he had shown himself as well in the first year, as he does now, we would have accepted, and he knew it, but he still wanted commitments beyond both seasons,” explained Alpine’s CEO.
The French official insisted that it is possible that Alonso had been contacted by another team and that he finally opted for Aston Martin: “I can only think that he received an offer in another place with better conditions and decided to leave. We are sad about it, but not resentful, it is his right to choose something else, we say goodbye in a good way, and we are aware that Fernando will give his best until the end of the year”.
“Do you think two or three years is a big difference for him? Now he is going to a team that is ninth in the constructors’ championship, and that means he has to go back to do all the work he has already done with us.” Rossi continued before warning that staying would have been the best thing for the Spaniard.
“Without a doubt, Alpine would have been the lowest risk option for him in sporting terms,” reflected the Frenchman. “Fernando’s time is also limited. There are other things we couldn’t offer him, we couldn’t set the bar that high, we ask our employees in the factories to make sacrifices, but we can’t go too far in Formula 1.”
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