The Formula 1 paddock woke up on the first day of the summer holidays with the surprise announcement of the signing of Fernando Alonso by Aston Martin for the 2023 season. The confirmation of his departure for the Silverstone team was a blow to Alpine , as the French hoped to make his renewal a reality, but it was even more painful when they lost their second choice, Oscar Piastri .
Be that as it may, the man from Oviedo will be at the controls of the green car next year, and the British team is very excited to be able to count on a two-time world champion. The head of the group, Mike Krack , gave his point of view on the hiring of Alonso, whom he defines as someone “competitive”, although he assures that it is for that reason that they opted for his services.
The “perfect choice” of Aston Martin, as the team boss himself revealed, only needed a ten-minute conversation, and despite the fact that this season they are penultimate in the constructors’ classification, with the investment they have among their plans and the new headquarters, they hope to fight for the ultimate achievement in the Great Circus.
When asked if he saw Fernando Alonso as having a realistic chance of claiming another world title during his time at Silverstone, Krack said: “Yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if this drags on to be honest, so I’d say yes.”
The director of Aston Martin does not know the moment in which he will be able to count on the Spaniard in his ranks, and it will depend on whether Alpine allows the pilot to free himself from his commitments before the end of the calendar year.
“I don’t know about Alpine’s contract, so it will probably be in early January [when Alonso works at Aston Martin headquarters],” he said before hesitating about his presence at the tests after the Abu Dhabi GP . “That would be nice, but we haven’t had any conversations about it.”
Some in Formula 1 have questioned Fernando Alonso because of his age , and it is that with just turned 41 and very close to breaking the record of participations held by Kimi Raikkonen of 350 races, it is evident that he will not be able to extend his career for many more seasons. grill presence.
However, his next boss has a very different opinion, as he thinks that the Spaniard will be able to compete until the stopwatch says otherwise: “We always say that 40 is the new 30, so from that point of view, it is quite a young driver.
“We don’t have that concern, he continues to show that he is super fast, and we don’t expect any downturn at all,” explained the Luxembourg director of Aston Martin.
Alonso’s departure was hard to swallow for Alpine, who assured that they would beat the one who is still their driver once he left Enstone, but Krack defends himself: “You also have to consider, why did you join us?” .
“He [Alonso] sees great potential in this team, in what we are doing, with the change of venue and very good people arriving, so I think he sees potential here,” continued the British boss.
“We have talked openly about our infrastructure, about how we intend to do it in the next few years, and I think that was convincing enough. Fernando [Alonso] is also supervising, he is a smart guy, he knows exactly what happens in the teams,” he said. . “He has a great network after all these years, so I don’t think we have to do a convincing job, he knows what’s going on through his various sources, and I think he’s aware that he can have a big impact. in the project, and I think that’s very attractive.
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