"I thought he would stay in Alpine"- Fernando Alonso's move to Aston Martin 'shocking' for team's own F1 engineer

Fernando Alonso's impending move from Alpine to Aston Martin in 2023 was so shocking that it admittedly caught the Silverstone team's aerodynamicist Raul Martin off guard.

The two-time world champion is now on the precipice of an eighth team switch in his F1 career after inking a multi-year deal with Aston Martin one day into the summer break. The announcement caught Alpine off-guard, who were under the impression that Alonso would be renewing his deal with the Enstone team.

In an interview with cadenaser.com in Spain, Fernando Alonso's compatriot Raul Martin revealed to former F1 driver Pedro De la Rosa that the two-time world champion was not even in the team's internal betting pool to replace the departing Sebastian Vettel. He said:

“They sent us an email in the morning, shortly before it appeared in the media. I am on vacation right now, but as if I had been in the office. Internally, there was talk of [Mick] Schumacher or [Nicholas] Latifi, I didn’t think Alonso would come. I thought he would stay at Alpine, it’s shocking and hard to believe, but it’s the reality.’’

Martin is thrilled the veteran Spaniard will be joining Aston Martin in 2023, expecting his move to raise the team's profile even further and attract more to quality talent. He said:

“As an engineer, you go to the best project, not the one that pays you the best. His arrival means attracting more talent to an ambitious project. I won the Fernando Alonso Scholarship to be able to enter the world of Formula 1 and now I’m going to work with him.’’

---

Fernando Alonso chose Aston Martin for longer contract, according to Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer

Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer has suggested that Fernando Alonso opted to join Aston Martin owing to the length of the contract he was offered.

According to Szafnauer, one of the main reasons for Alonso's departure could have been Alpine's reluctance to offer the veteran a longer contract to. When asked to elaborate, he said:

“We offered him a one-year contract plus one. It’s difficult to predict the future. I always say that if I could, I wouldn’t be here, I would be in Las Vegas. We discussed that if he was still at this level next year, of course we would have him, but he wanted more certainty, regardless of performance, he wanted to stay longer. That’s why one plus one; instead of two plus one or three plus one. There comes a time when, physiologically, you don’t have the same ability as when you are young. It’s fair to say that Michael Schumacher, at 42, was not the same driver as he was at 35.”

Szafnauer used the analogy of another sport to drive his point home, saying:

“Cricket is not a very physical sport, it’s also coordination, millimeters, and after the age of 34, the best player no longer scores a point. Something is wrong with him. It’s the same with racing drivers. If he was at the highest level, of course we wanted to continue, but year by year. And I think he wanted more time.”

Fernando Alonso will also reportedly be raking in a higher salary than his current deal with the Anglo-French outfit and will have more say in the development of the car. While he has expressed the desire and hunger to compete at the top level of F1, it remains to be seen how successful he can be with Aston Martin going forward.