"He was surprised by that"- Fernando Alonso on why Alpine boss 'didn't know anything' about his Aston Martin deal

When Fernando Alonso announced his move from Alpine to Aston Martin, his boss Otmar Szafneur expressed surprise at the development.

In a press conference on Thursday before the Belgian GP, Alonso admitted that Szafneur may not have known anything about that. However, the Spaniard said that he had informed Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi and Renault group president Luca de Meo. He added that Szafneur was not 'involved in the negotiations', which explains his surprise at the announcement.

“It’s true, Otmar probably didn’t know anything," Alonso said. "But I informed Laurent Rossi (Alpine CEO), (Renault Group) president Luca de Meo, my mechanics and my engineers before any announcement. So all the people that were involved in my negotiations, they were informed before any announcement from Aston Martin."

Alonso added:

"Otmar was not involved in the negotiations, and just probably Laurent or Luca didn’t call him before the announcement, and he was surprised by that.”

Alonso added that he is proud of his stint with Alpine (and Renault) and happy with the team's progress since his return to the sport after a brief absence.

“Every press conference that I did so far this year, I was quite clear that I was happy with the progress that we were making," said Alonso. "As a team, it has been an incredible journey for me to come back into this sport with Alpine, which I consider my team, my family."

He added:

"We won so many things together (in the team’s previous guise as Renault), and that will be part of our history, not only the Renault Group history but also Fernando’s history, what we achieved together.”

However, when Aston Martin came calling, he decided to join them, as they had shown trust in his abilities on and off the track to help further their project. Alonso said:

“It seemed that it was a logical move to me – because Aston was very willing to have me and trusted on my abilities on the track, and off-track as well, to develop the project,”

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"I felt it was the right decision to move to Aston" - Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso admitted a 'strange feeling' with the way discussions were progressing with Alpine, as they seldom discussed about the future.

“You never know (whether I would’ve signed). It was not that specific talk about the future with them – we were moving around in different things, and we were maybe not agreeing on the principles. It’s not only what you agree in terms of the duration of the contract – it’s just also the trust that you feel and how you feel wanted in a place. If it was just a temporary thing … it was always a strange feeling."

Alonso added that Aston Martin seemingly wanted him more than Alpine, which made it easier for him to join the latter.

“And, as I said, I felt it was the right decision to move to Aston because they seemed to really want me, and appreciated every performance that I was putting in in the last two years,” said Alonso.

With the Spaniard moving from fourth fastest to the ninth fastest team in the grid, it will be interesting to see what happens next.