Alonso: I will try to keep the good races going

When the Aston Martin team announced last summer that Fernando Alonso would replace Sebastian Vettel, it was hard to believe that the two-time world champion had made the right decision. Still, Alpine F1, Renault’s factory team, finished the year in 4th place in the Constructors’ Championship, while Aston Martin finished seventh.

However, the first two races of the new season confirmed that Alonso was right to bet on a team from Silverstone – he climbed to the podium in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

At a recent presentation of the book “The Great Circus of Formula 1” written by Spanish journalist Nira Juanco, he spoke about what guided him when he decided to sign a contract with Aston Martin.

Fernando Alonso: “After returning to Formula 1 with Alpine in 2021, I expected that the transition to the new technical regulations would increase the chances of fighting for victories. And although it didn’t happen in 2022, when I was riding for Alpine, I was able to prepare well that year.

In the middle of 2022, I signed a contract with Aston Martin and immediately started planning future work, preparing for it, actively communicating with the team and participating in the creation of a new car. I took it as my own business: if I didn’t continue to work with Alpine, then I had to make sure everyone saw the best version of Fernando Alonso in all 20 years I’ve been in F1.

We started the season well with two podium finishes, but Red Bull Racing is in a league of its own. That is why we must remain realistic. There will be races where we can only finish sixth or seventh because Ferrari will perform very confidently on some tracks.

Mercedes will also be able to add, because it is a very big team. Last year we saw them fail to reach the qualifying finals at the start of the season, and at the end they won the race in Brazil. All this speaks of the powerful potential of Mercedes.

So it is very possible that we will finish sixth or seventh, but we will try to make it happen as late as possible so that the series of good races continues.

In general I would say that in all 20 years in Formula 1 I have only had four unsuccessful seasons driving for McLaren-Honda – the team then had an uncompetitive car. But the other 16 years I’ve been fighting for podiums and wins, and this is a very unique story.

Sometimes I feel that people are a bit sorry for the team-to-team transitions I’ve made throughout my career, but the facts confirm that I personally have nothing to regret, and I’m happy to confirm that.