On the first day of the summer break, Aston Martin announced the signing of Alonso and unleashed a storm in Alpine , which was not only left without the Spaniard but also suffered the rejection of Piastri, whom he had chosen as his replacement.
In the French team they were clear that Alonso would renew , and even Otmar Szafnauer revealed that the pilot had assured him the afternoon before that he had not signed with anyone and not to worry. The obvious discomfort of the Spaniard with his manager at feeling slighted was more evident this weekend, on the first date after the holidays, at the Belgian GP.
There, Alonso made it clear that he had notified all his mechanics and his bosses except Szafnauer before Aston Martin’s announcement, while Otmar qualified that version by insisting that everything seemed headed for renewal.
However, any off-track friction disappears when the driver puts on his helmet, and Alonso showed that he will continue to perform at his level despite the fact that it is already known that in 2023 he will not continue with the team. After being sixth in qualifying, he started third due to penalties from Verstappen, Leclerc and Ocon , and although he could do nothing to stop Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, he finished fifth after Leclerc’s penalty.
Szafnauer wanted to praise Fernando Alonso’s attitude and performance, assuring that he is fully committed: “Yes, absolutely. He is doing the same thing. Look, before I come to talk to the media, we just had the post-race meeting, and He pointed out to us the areas where the car performed well and the things we can improve on and what we should be doing for the next race. Fernando is totally committed to doing his best until the end.”
In fact, the Alpine director insists that his relationship with the pilot has not deteriorated despite recent events: “Yes, it is no different”.
On the other hand, Szafnauer revealed that there were team orders at the end of the race, when Esteban Ocon seemed to close in on Alonso threatening his sixth position (later to become fifth). Asked if the Frenchman was asked to stay behind, he explained: “Yes, changing their position or letting them compete at that time didn’t make any sense. Because you don’t win more points and you risk losing a lot. So it didn’t make sense. “.
“I am totally in favor, as you know from these years, of letting the drivers compete. That is what I think it is about. That is what the fans want to see and we cannot forget about them. the race and there’s nothing to be gained from a team perspective, you have to do something smart. And that’s exactly what we did.”
In any event, Ocon finished the Spa-Francorchamps race more than two seconds behind Alonso and was in fact unable to take advantage when Charles Leclerc was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
