what amount of doubts awakened the decision by Fernando Alonso in summer 2022. The decision to leave Alpine. Deciding not to renew for a team that was the top pursuer of the Red Bulls, of the Ferraris and the Mercedes. Not to continue with the French… and to sign by Aston Martin. To set course for a team that, at that time, was ninth just ahead of Williams.
For a team that Saturday yes and Saturday was also among the top favorites to fall in Q1. That in the race he was going better, but not enough to, coming out so low, score juicy points. Yes, how much doubt there was. How risky it seemed. AND how well it has turned out for Alonso.
Because risking has been equal to winning. It has been the same as the saying goes. Because, finally, Alonso has what he has longed for since 2012. He has been more than ten years. That’s what he does. It is the time that has passed since Fernando had his last competitive car.
Alpine, in self-destruction
Long has been the wait. Long and suffered, with McLaren-Honda, and then McLaren-Renault, without hitting the key anywhere near. And then with Alpine. They did play F1 well, but… but no.
not for the team environment. No by Otmar Szafnauer. No by Esteban Ocon. and not because the ambition was not and is not the same that Alonso has. Because Alonso wants to win. Or at least fight to win. And he does not have in mind that it takes 100 races for it to happen.
It seemed when he signed for Aston Martin that he would have to spend even more, seeing how green the car was. However, the signings of Dan Fallows and Eric Blandin, among others, and the great work in the factory along with the investment of Lawrence Stroll are working. the great miracle of Formula 1.
Two zeros in five races
One that Alpine could not have had. And that it doesn’t have Let’s put the numbers on the table. Let’s see what has happened in these first five World Cup races in which Alonso has four podiums. Let’s put the data of a team, the French, with which Fernando only managed a drawer, in Qatar, after two seasons.
The team of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly add 14 points in the Constructors’ World Championship. They march sixth, tied on points with a McLaren team that is not there to talk too much either. They have Haas, seventh, six points away… and to Ferrari, rooms, to 64.
As far as pilots are concerned, maximum equality. Pierre Gasly adds 8 points, for Esteban Ocon’s 6 that, let’s remember, should act as a leader by taking more years. The worst comes when watching a Grand Prix for a Grand Prix.
In that sense, the best weekend for Alpine has been this, the fifth. The one in Miami. Gasly was eighth, with Ocon ninth. Yes, they scored both. The same thing happened in Jeddah, where positions were changed at the end of the race. The rest…
The rest is settled with two zeros in Australia, for a double KO at the start, and in Azerbaijan, with Ocon in a unique strategy that made everything hang on a red flag. In Bahrain, Gasly advanced to grab a couple of points.
Four podiums in five races
In all, 14. Aston Martin, adding Stroll and Alonso, 102. Yes, almost a hundred difference. As far as Fernando is concerned, only he gets five times, or almost multiplies by six, the result of his former team.
The two-time world champion, with four third places (15 points), and a fourth place (12 points), plus his result in the Baku sprint, adds 75 units in his locker. That’s 61 more than all of Alpine.
And while, furthermore, the Gauls are in a tremendous internal war with the CEO charging at his workers and the boss of Alpine responding. Nothing to do with Aston Martin, who have between eyebrows to win the World Cup and keep improving. And that they have Alonso on a pedestal…
