Why the Fernando Alonso-Aston Martin partnership was never in doubt

Fernando Alonso has signed an extension with Aston Martin and will drive for the team for two more years. After months of deliberation, hints of retirement, and possibly assessing his options, the Spaniard has signed on the dotted line.

There have been rumors of Fernando Alonso being linked to a Red Bull seat, there have also been rumors of the Spaniard going to Mercedes as well, but ultimately he finally put pen to paper on a deal with Aston Martin.

The partnership has been very successful until now. Fernando Alonso scored as many as 8 podiums in their first year together and looking back, it's safe to say that the partnership was never in doubt.

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Neither had a better option

Arguably, one of the biggest reasons for the partnership to continue is that neither had a better option on the table. For Fernando Alonso, any realistic possibility of a switch comes down to Red Bull or Mercedes.

Red Bull is a Max Verstappen team, but at the same time, one has to wonder what kind of serious consideration the team even gave to Alonso. Unless there was a political move in play at Red Bull, the team would not logically look for two alphas in the same team.

Coming to Mercedes, looking at the team's trajectory and Toto Wolff's cluelessness on how to revive the team, the German team is not an attractive option at this stage. Alonso did not have a realistic option anyway, and as a result, he decided to stay where he was.

For Aston Martin as well, the first four races were proof enough that Fernando Alonso is still a staggeringly brilliant driver. To replace him, unless a Max Verstappen was available, no one else made any sense whatsoever.

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Fernando Alonso is still elite

In the first four races, here's what Fernando Alonso has done. In the first race of the season, he dragged the Aston Martin to the second row and finished 9th. In Jeddah, he fended off George Russell for the entirety of the second half of the race even though the Mercedes was the faster car.

In Melbourne, except for the incident with George Russell late in the race, Fernando Alonso was once again brilliant in the Aston Martin. Finally, in Japan, the way Alonso toyed with Oscar Piastri and George Russell by keeping the McLaren driver in his DRS window was just a sign of elite talent.

Fernando Alonso is fit, performing at a very high level, and his motivation is second to none. The Spaniard is still a prized possession for any team.

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Aston Martin is making all the right moves

The best part about this partnership is that neither of the two should be considered a fallback option. Aston Martin has been making some impressive strides not only on-track but off-track as well. This is a team that has seen some serious investment from Lawrence Stroll, who seems intent on winning in F1.

The partnership with Honda means that Aston Martin will be a works team and cut off the final bits of dependence it has on Mercedes. The team arguably has the best state-of-the-art wind tunnel, which should be functional soon, and to add to this, the design team has some brilliant names.

In terms of fitting the right people in the right place, Aston Martin has done that. This was what attracted Alonso to the team in 2023, and this is what appears to have been the deciding factor for him going forward as well.