“Absolutely not” – Alain Prost dismisses claims of Fernando Alonso’s involvement in his departure from Alpine

Alpine’s former non-executive chairman Alain Prost has dismissed claims that Fernando Alonso may have been behind his exit from the team. The four-time F1 world champion stepped down from his role at the end of last season after nearly five years with the French squad.

When asked if Fernando Alonso had anything to do with his less-than-friendly departure from the team during an interview with Marca, Prost said:

"Absolutely not. Fernando is top-notch and also very correct. His general racing vision is incredible, as is his feeling for the tires, how he talks about the car and helps the engineers. As far as I am concerned, he is the best driver on the grid.”

Prost had earlier revealed that he had refused a contract extension offered by the team, as he was unhappy with the role. He blamed Alpine's CEO Laurent Rossi for "wanting all the limelight", and not wishing to listen to him.

The veteran F1 driver says he felt increasingly isolated within the team during the previous season, and that it was hard to work at a place where there “wasn’t any respect”.

Prost was the latest in a series of high-profile people to have left the team in the past year. After the team’s rebranding as Alpine from Renault at the end of 2020, several key figures, including Cyril Abiteboul, Marcin Budkowski, and more have the left squad.

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Fernando Alonso’s future in F1 hangs on Alpine’s performance in 2022

After nearly a decade of trying and failing to add a third world championship title to his tally, Fernando Alonso was sick of F1 and decided to call it quits at the end of 2018.

For the next two years following his “retirement” from F1, the Spaniard immersed himself in other categories, and achieved varying levels of success: He notched up two consecutive Le Mans victories and World Endurance Championship title but failed once again to secure the elusive Indy 500 victory.

He also made his debut at the grueling Dakar Rally and almost finished in the top 5 before a huge crash in one of the latter stages relegated him outside the top 10.

Despite dabbling in other racing formats, Alonso’s love for F1 remained and he returned to the sport once again in 2021 – just as many had predicted – to fight for his elusive third title one last time.

However, already in his forties, the Spaniard has very little time to achieve his goal. With regulations reset in 2022, both Alpine and Alonso are hoping to catapult themselves to the front of the grid and hopefully mount a title challenge.

However, if the Enstone team fails to deliver, Alonso might forever remain a two-time world champion, and might once again quit the sport, never to return again.