"You are first, or you are not winning"- Fernando Alonso on his approach ahead of joining Aston Martin in 2023

Fernando Alonso said that one of the biggest reasons why he decided to join Aston Martin next season was the team's willingness to invest to be competitive.

The Spaniard added that he has the mindset to finish first, so any other finish 'doesn't matter'. He felt Aston Martin might have the right ingredients for success. In a press conference on Thursday before the Belgian GP, he said:

“Doesn’t matter being fourth or ninth or 13th. You are first, or you are not winning. And I think all the Formula 1 teams and drivers, we are here to be on that top spot."

He added that among the possibilities on the table, Aston Martin looked like the 'right' one. The team's willingness to invest could help them have a faster car next year.

"I felt that within the possibilities that I had on the table for next year, I think this one (Aston) was the right one, and as I said the project has some ingredients for the future that in Formula 1 normally are synonymous with success – when you invest, and you have the best people," said Alonso. "Let’s see if we can shortcut that time as much as possible, and make Aston Martin very fast next year already.”

Alonso added that new people from impressive backgrounds have joined the Aston Martin project recently, which augurs well for the future.

“The project is very attractive, obviously there is a lot of investment going on in the last few years, a lot of new people came into the team, very talented, the engineers, the designers, the new facilities in Silverstone – I felt that it was a nice project for the future," said the Spaniard. “They were extremely happy to join forces and to have this possibility to grow up together. And yeah, we felt that it was the right thing to do.”

Alonso, who has made some questionable switches in the last few years is aware that things could go south. Commenting on the same, he said:

“There are some risks, in every decision you make in Formula 1. No-one has the crystal ball to guess the future. At the same time, in Formula 1 or in any sport, you win or you don’t."

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Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin discussion began after Sebastian Vettel's retirement announcement

Fernando Alonso said that the discussion between him and Aston Martin only started after Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement. He said:

"I have no problems to say that everything started when Sebastian announced the retirement. I think Aston was waiting for that decision, they were happy with Sebastian to continue one more year – in the end Seb decided to stop,”

Aston Martin called up Fernando Alonso who was one of many drivers they had reached out to. Things moved quickly between the two parties. Talking about the frenetic pace of discussions and negotiations, Alonso said:

“And they probably started calling some drivers that they were interested in – I was one of those, I was still available. We started talking on that weekend briefly about the conditions that I was expecting, about what they were expecting from me as well."

He added:

"We met quite quickly on our expectations and fulfilled all our wishes, and on Monday morning, we signed, and we decided to announce quite quickly before any leak. That’s more or less the timeline of everything.”

Ahead of the Hungarian GP last month, Vettel had announced that he would retire at the end of the season, prompting his team - Aston Martin - to scurry for a replacement driver next season.