The announcement is surprising. While he seemed to form an effective duo with Esteban Ocon since his arrival at Alpine in 2021, the Spaniard Fernando Alonso, double Formula 1 world champion in 2005 and 2006, will finally leave the French team to race in 2023 with Aston Martin.
Alonso, who celebrated his 41st birthday on Friday, finished 8th in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, ahead of his French teammate Esteban Ocon, and currently sits 10th in the World Championship after 13 out of 22 races with 41 points.
The former Ferrari driver will succeed in the English team, owned by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, the German Sebastian Vettel, four-time world champion, who announced Thursday his retirement from F1 at the end of the 2022 season.
Alonso believes in Aston Martin’s future
“The whole Aston Martin team is very enthusiastic about welcoming Fernando’s incredible experience, his brilliant burst of speed and his racing expertise,” wrote the English team in a press release posted Monday morning on the internet. and on social networks. “The recruitment of a special talent like that of Fernando is a strong statement of intent from an organization committed to developing a winning team in Formula 1”, adds the text.
This team “is clearly putting in the energy and commitment to win, so it’s one of the most exciting teams in Formula 1 today,” Alonso wrote. “I have known Lawrence and Lance (his son, the team’s other driver) for a long time and it is obvious that they have the ambition and the passion necessary to succeed in Formula 1”, concludes the Spanish champion.