Fernando Alonso quizzed on Red Bull and Mercedes talks before ‘easy’ Aston Martin choice

Fernando Alonso has confirmed he did speak with “other” teams before re-signing with Aston Martin – but in the end it was an “easy” choice.

The double World Champion surprised the media on Thursday when he announced he’d signed a new multi-year deal with Aston Martin, one that will extend beyond his racing days.

Fernando Alonso did speak with ‘other teams’

Just days prior, he’d been asked about his future several times over the course of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend but he had been noncommittal in his answers.

It now appears that he was already finessing the finer details in a new Aston Martin deal.

The Alonso-Aston Martin partnership has been a successful one for both parties as, while they have yet to win a Grand Prix, their time together has seen them reach the podium eight times with the team P5 last season.

Alonso, linked to Red Bull and Mercedes, did however chat with other teams before committing to Aston Martin.

“I did speak with other people as well,” he confirmed to the media including PlanetF1.com. “I think it’s normal when you enter negotiations, you need to balance a little bit what is the market.

“You need to listen to everyone else as well. It’s just a normal procedure, and I think it’s fair to listen to all the proposals and see how the market moves. I don’t know, in my head, Aston was the logical thing for me to do.

“At the end, it was also the best and the most, I felt the most wanted in Aston Martin. All the other conversations were just light, and never came to any conclusions or something like that.

“Maybe more time was needed, all these kinds of things. While in Aston, it was a clear desire to work together, which was the same that I had. That’s why it came very easy.”

Asked whether he had spoken specifically with Red Bull and Mercedes, the Spaniard replied: “I will not be on the specific of which teams I spoke to as I think this is not important now and it’s a day for Aston Martin and a day for good news for Aston Martin.

“But yeah it’s a normal conversation to have, same for teams, when they are searching for a driver, they touch everyone, just to know their position and their contract situation, even if they are not super interested they always want to know everything and for me it’s the same, but without any clear targets, and first priority was Aston.”

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‘Once I made that decision it was very easy to arrive to a deal with Aston Martin’

Thursday’s announcement means Alonso has officially removed himself from F1’s silly season rumour mill, the Spaniard no longer having to face a barrage of questions about his future.

“It will be nice in China when I get to the press conference and which type of questions I have now,” he said.

“I don’t know when I said, in Jeddah, I know there’s a little bit of movement here and there and rumours for everybody but I’m a little bit outside of that and I will make a decision when it’s time to make a decision, I will not rush because there are pressures here or there, or I will not wait to see if there is something happening there and I can jump in or whatever, I will dictate my destiny for good or for bad but I will do whatever I feel is best, at my timing, and not at a timing that no-one will dictate.

“So yeah after three-four races as I made a decision to keep on racing, ready to sacrifice a few more years of my life on normal things, I’m happy to keep travelling, I feel fresh, I feel physically at the top, I feel motivated.

“Once I made that decision it was very easy to arrive to a deal with Aston Martin and we announce it today. But without looking at the rumours or what other people are doing or which kinds of deadlines teams or drivers they have, we dictate our own pace.”

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