Fernando Alonso pinpoints one key factor that led to his switch from Alpine to Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso recently reflected on his bizarre journey from leaving Alpine to joining Aston Martin for the 2023 F1 season. The Spaniard emphasized a particular aspect of the French team, which made him leave it even more quickly.

This all happened after Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement in mid-2022. While fans were still coming to terms with the German's announcement, Aston Martin announced Fernando Alonso to fill Vettel's seat for next year. Alpine themselves were quite shocked to hear the news, as they were not aware that Alonso was in talks with the British team.

Speaking to El Larguero, Alonso explained how one of the reasons for his move was that Vettel was retiring and leaving a spot open. However, the second reason was the 'lack of professionalism' from Alpine, especially in their negotiations and discussions for the future of the team.

On the flip side, Fernando Alonso stated that everything was quite smooth at Aston Martin and that the team was willing to hire him. He said:

“The first [act] was that Vettel retired. The second was that Alpine had been negotiating for several months and nothing was ever finalized. We agreed on everything, but the paper didn’t arrive, and I noticed a lack of professionalism.

"At Aston, we had everything clear on Saturday after Vettel’s announcement on Thursday, the role on the table. This willingness to have me seduced me.”

Lastly, the 42-year-old admitted that the move to Aston Martin was risky since it came out of the blue. However, he is delighted that his hunch about moving to a new team yet again worked like a charm this time.

He said:

“It was an adventure, there was a risk, but it worked out well and the hunch worked this time. There were a few hours with both offers on the table, but I saw more ambition in Aston Martin.”

Fernando Alonso already has seven podium finishes in the 2023 F1 season.

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Fernando Alonso shares advice he would give to his younger self

While recently filming a promotional video for Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%, Fernando Alonso spoke about what advice he would give to his younger self. The Spaniard simply stated that he would tell his younger self to enjoy a little more and live in the moment rather than only think of moving up the ranks in racing and reaching F1.

“If I could go back, I would behave differently and maybe enjoy a little bit more of my free time, the podium celebrations, the team dinners that back then it just felt like a moment where I was losing time to prepare for the next race,” Alonso said.

Fernando Alonso was an excellent driver in junior categories. All the way back in the late '90s, when he was trying to get into F1, he won many Spanish karting championships. He also won the 1999 Euro Open Championship with Nissan before entering F1 with Renault.