The ‘rubbish’ rumour about Alonso which leaves Briatore ‘completely upset’

Is Fernando Alonso a challenging Formula 1 driver to manage? Or does the media have the wrong picture of the sport’s current oldest driver?

Ask Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore, and the answer is clear: Alonso is fierce, but his loyalty to a team is simply unmatched.

Flavio Briatore leaps to defence of Fernando Alonso

Flavio Briatore, effectively Alpine’s de facto team principal, has made a point of putting it on record that he believes 44-year-old Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso hasn’t always gotten a fair shake in the media.

Speaking to ESPN, Briatore lamented, “Sometimes people put out in the news that Fernando was difficult to manage.

“But this is a lot of rubbish, really. I am completely upset whenever I hear this.

“Fernando is always a teammate. He’s always making everyone work together. The demonstration is now at Aston Martin.”

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Alonso, now the oldest driver on the F1 grid by four years, has logged an impressive 22 seasons behind the wheel of Formula 1 machinery, clocking two World Championships and 32 race victories throughout that time.

And those two titles? Both were achieved with Renault, a team managed at the time by none other than Briatore. Naturally, that’s likely to impact the way he remembers working with a driver like Alonso, but the two have maintained close ties.

In recent years, Alonso has found himself at Aston Martin, a team that has been hard at work redefining its image and competitiveness in the most prestigious form of motorsport.

The team, now owned by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, has recently completed construction on a new factory and wind tunnel, and it has also recruited major talents like designer Adrian Newey heading into the regulatory sea change of 2026.

Alonso is another element in that growth, just as Sebastian Vettel was before him, with that experience and his famed tenacity part of the legendary driver’s appeal, Briatore argues.

“The car is not competitive, but he’s always there, pushing,” the Italian, who is also Alonso’s manager, said.

“Everyone knows what they need. He’s like a Rottweiler. He’s there all the time.

“You go in one place, and the Rottweiler bites you all the time. That’s Fernando. That’s how he wants to win.”

But wins have been rare for Alonso in recent years, with his most recent win in F1 coming at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, well before a majority of the current grid had even graduated to Formula 1.

The Spaniard will be hoping that run of poor luck turns around with some insight from Newey and a shake-up of the current pecking order come 2026.

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