Fernando Alonso to Aston Martin: A masterstroke or another disastrous career move?

Fernando Alonso broke the internet when he announced his move from Alpine to Aston Martin. After the initial shock subsided, there have been somewhat mixed emotions from fans and experts regarding the Spaniard's decision.

Fernando Alonso has had a history of making bad decisions in his career when it comes to switching teams. In this feature, we will take a look at whether Fernando Alonso's decision to move to Aston Martin will be a disaster or a masterstroke.

Did Alpine push him?

First of all, before we do that, there's a question that needs to be answered here. Is Alonso jumping ship as a consequence of Alpine not showing enough verve to sign an extension with him? Did Alpine play hardball with the Spaniard, forcing him to look elsewhere?

Initially, there could have been some credence to this, but by the looks of it, that's not entirely true. Alonso has expressed how Aston Martin appears to have shown a lot more potential with the number of championship pedigree names that have signed with the team.

On the other hand, If Alpine had pushed Alonso out, they'd have a replacement ready by now, which we now know is not the case. The Oscar Piastri debacle clearly illustrated as much.

Can it prove to be a masterstroke?

This is the question that most Fernando Alonso fans are asking at the moment. Could Alonso's move hold similarities to what Lewis Hamilton did in 2013 when he switched from McLaren to a relatively new team in Mercedes?

On the surface, Aston Martin has quite a few things going for it. In terms of resources, the team has more than enough now with the infusion of investment from Saudi Arabia. Additionally, it is no secret that the team has poached quite a few personnel from Mercedes and Red Bull over the last few years. With the recruitments, it should mean that the team has quite a few 'winners' in its ranks.

At the same time, Aston Martin's technical unit has achieved notoriety in the last few years as it allegedly copied designs from Mercedes and Red Bull.

Could it be another disaster in Fernando Alonso's career?

This is something that every Alonso fan fears and it's evident in the comments section of Aston Martin's Twitter post announcing the signing.

Let's admit one thing, Fernando Alonso has often found a way to be in the right place at the wrong time in his career. He moved to McLaren in 2007 when the team had a championship winning car ready, only to have his hopes shattered by a rising champion in Lewis Hamilton.

He went to Ferrari and chose not to go to Honda (the team that eventually became Brawn GP and Mercedes) or Red Bull. On the surface, it made sense as Ferrari dominated the sport in the 2000s. In hindsight, however, that was the worst possible choice he could have made.

The ill-timed move to McLaren at the start of the McLaren-Honda partnership also turned out to be an utter disaster.

With his latest move, the problem isn't with him finding a home at Aston Martin. The problem is the fact that he is moving away from Alpine.

When you compare the two teams across the last three seasons, the French team has shown growth while the Silverstone-based squad has regressed.

Aston Martin is a cash-rich team with the eighth-fastest car on the grid, while, during the Force India days, it used to be the fourth-fastest team with less money.

Can such a team transform into what Fernando Alonso aspires to be? To be fair, no team has ever shown such a massive turnaround under a single regime of regulations.

Whether a disaster or a masterstroke, the beauty of it all is that, at age 41, Fernando Alonso is still striving towards becoming a world champion.