Fernando Alonso knows what is going on at every team due to ‘big network’
Alpine driver Fernando Alonso putting on his race suit on the grid. Montreal June 2022.
Aston Martin have said they did not need to convince Fernando Alonso to join…he already knows what is going on at every team anyway.
Alonso shocked the world of Formula 1 when it was announced he would be the driver to replacing the retiring Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin for 2023 and 2024.
With Alonso’s current team Alpine at the head of the midfield fight and Aston Martin some distance behind this season, it begged the question why would the two-time World Champion take a step back down the current pecking order.
However, Aston Martin did not need to convince Alonso about their ongoing and ambitious project to challenge Formula 1’s elite because he would have already collected a lot of information about the team through his contacts.
“I think there was not so much convincing work necessary [with Fernando],” Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack to Sky F1.
“I think Fernando has a very big network in Formula 1. He knows more or less what’s going on in every team. A
I think he sees a [clear] role in our project, with the people we’re hiring with our infrastructure, but also not to forget the amount of people, good people that we already had on board.
“So from that point of view, there was no convincing work.”
Krack was then quizzed on the other names who were on the potential shortlist to replace Vettel, but while he would give up no information on that, he did confirm the plan was to continue with the four-time World Champion next season.
Alonso only appeared on Aston Martin’s radar when Vettel confirmed he no longer wanted to continue in Formula 1 beyond the end of the 2022 season.
“We were always clear that we wanted to continue with Sebastian,” Krack reiterated.
“Our plans were to continue with Sebastian, we always said it, and an alternative was only coming alive as soon as Sebastian said that he is going to stop.”
Krack also has no concerns about Alonso’s reputation as being a disruptive figure in Formula 1, saying his mentality will help push Aston Martin even further in the years to come.
“He’s a champion,” Krack stated. “There is a reason why they are and it is because they are very competitive.
“They are asking the right questions, they are pushing the teams to the limits, and we feel it’s important to have to have someone like that to ask some uncomfortable questions.
“It pushes us one step further. So I think for the team, it is the right thing to have people like that.”
Alonso reignited his old feud with Lewis Hamilton at the Belgian Grand Prix, labelling him “an idiot” who “only knows how to race from the front”.
Hamilton responded on Tuesday, uploading an image of a signed cap to Fernando Alonso on Instagram.
