Fernando Alonso 'best choice on the market' for Aston Martin after Sebastian Vettel's retirement, claims F1 journalist

Fernando Alonso was the best choice in the F1 driver market for Aston Martin to approach after Sebastian Vettel announced his decision to retire, according to Spanish F1 journalist Jesus Balseiro.

Sebastian Vettel stunned the F1 community by announcing his decision to walk away from the sport at the end of the season just before the start of the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP.

The silly season in the F1 driver market, however, did not officially kick into gear until the first day of the summer break when Aston Martin dropped the announcement of a multi-year contract agreement with Alonso.

While the news got Alpine off guard and surprised many, Aston Martin replacing one world champion with another seemed axiomatic to Jesus Balseiro, who normally plies his trade with as.com.

While in conversation about Fernando Alonso's next career move on the latest episode of the F1 Nation podcast, the Spanish journalist said:

“I mean, of course, for Aston Martin, for Lawrence Stroll, he really was the best choice on the market. When you see all the drivers who were free of contracts, he was the best choice. He is a world champion, the only one. In that sense, I can understand of course, he is the best option they had.”

Balseiro went on to add, saying:

“On Fernando’s [Alonso] head, we will see of course. It is unfair for us because we’ll know in three years if he was right or not. If Alpine is faster than Aston Martin or Aston Martin is in front, we will see. You are right, they are building a really great team. It’s not Fernando’s team. They are looking into Red Bull. They are bringing people from Mercedes probably too. It is a very interesting structure they have built in their new factory we all see from Silverstone when we go to the British Grand Prix and it is a medium-term project. In Formula 1, as a medium-term project, every team can win, we know that.”

Aston Martin's 2023 car will be the first to be designed by British engineer Dan Fallows, who rose to stardom as Red Bull's aerodynamicist before being lured away by team Silverstone. So, things could be looking up for Fernando Alonso next season.

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Fernando Alonso agrees with Alpine boss' claims that a 30-year-old female could be a better driver than him

Fernando Alonso is in agreement with Alpine F1 CEO Laurent Rossi about the possibility of an athletic and fit woman at 30 being better than him in his present condition.

The Spaniard began his F1 career back in 2001 and since then has gone on to become a two-time world champion with 32 wins and 98 podiums. Following the 2022 F1 British GP, Alonso overtook Kimi Raikkonen for the most distance driven in the history of the sport.

Earlier this season, Alpine launched an initiative to try and get more women into motorsport and subsequently in F1. In a subsequent interview, Rossi pointed out that women are jet fighter pilots and astronauts, before suggesting that a perfectly fit woman at 30 could perform better than their veteran driver.

When asked to weigh in on the Frenchman's comments in the pre-race press conference at Silverstone this season, Fernando Alonso said:

“Probably they do! Yeah, there should not be any reason why not. I feel okay to drive Formula 1 cars, but I’m probably not the strongest man in the world. And yeah, I think the team is doing a lot of initiatives in the last few years, to be more inclusive.’’

Alonso went on to add, saying:

“Now, in Alpine road company, 12% of the company are women; in the Formula 1 team is 10%. So still a long way to go. But definitely things are moving in the right direction. So yeah, I’m proud of all these initiatives and about the comments: yeah, probably he’s right.”

The 41-year-old has to finish the remaining nine races in the 2022 F1 calendar before he can move on to his next challenge while Alpine still try and find his replacement for 2023.