Watch: Aston Martin share footage of Fernando Alonso’s first day at HQ

Toby Miles
Fernando Alonso smiles with an engineer. Abu Dhabi November 2022.

Fernando Alonso smiles in the Aston Martin garage as he tests for the team at the end of the season. Abu Dhabi November 2022.

Aston Martin have shared footage of Fernando Alonso getting stuck into preparations for the 2023 season on his first day at their HQ.

The double World Champion was up in the Italian Dolomites skiing for an off-season camp, before swapping the freezing mountains for chilly England.

One of the shock transfers announced last season was Alonso’s move from Alpine to Aston Martin, signing a two-year contract with the British team, who plan on rising up the grid following fresh investment.

Alonso had already given a sneak-peek of his visit on Instagram, posting two pictures alongside Lance Stroll and Aston Martin engineers captioned “countdown” and “getting ready.”

Aston Martin then shared a montage recapping Alonso’s first day on Friday, showing the beaming 41-year-old shaking hands and suiting-up in all-black race gear to get a feel for the team’s 2023 concept for the first time.

The Spaniard looked relaxed and in good health, wearing his new team’s green jacket as he toured the facility. Alonso then gloved-up and spent some time in Aston Martin’s simulator.

The video ends with a short quote from Alonso: “I saw a lot of energy from everyone, very motivated.”

Alonso hopes moving to Aston Martin will finally land him a machine with race-winning potential. The veteran racer was left frustrated at Alpine, with whom Alonso had to forgo several opportunities for podiums following reliability gremlins.

PlanetF1.com recommends

Top 10 greatest Formula 1 seasons to end in championship heartbreak
F1 fathers and sons: The famous racing names that could return to F1
Sky F1 presenters: Confirmed line-up for the new F1 2023 season

Alonso hasn’t won a Grand Prix since his home race in 2013, back when he was driving a Ferrari. Since then, the Spaniard has endured a miserable four-year stint at McLaren and retired, only to make a comeback in 2021 with the Alpine team formerly known as Renault.

The 41-year-old has already driven Aston Martin’s 2022 machine, having taken part in post-season testing following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November.

The team were impressed by Alonso’s feedback, with Aston’s deputy technical director Eric Blandin particularly enthused: “Fernando’s feedback is extremely precise. He clearly communicated what he wants from the car and immediately identified a few things that we’ve been able to feed into the design of the AMR23.

“Last season, Fernando drove a car that was quite different from ours – and more competitive. After driving the AMR22, he was quickly able to compare the two cars and say, ‘this is clearly better, this is clearly worse, and this is what we should focus on.'”