A stunning comeback for Fernando Alonso in Formula 1

In 2018, after dedicating his life to Formula 1 for 17 seasons, Fernando Alonso had had enough.

With two world titles and 32 Grand Prix wins, he walked away, albeit unfulfilled. It had been 12 years since he was crowned champion and five years since he had won a race.

“When I finished it was at an all-time low, and I didn’t want that because my performance, my competitiveness was as high as ever back then, but people didn’t see it,” Aston Martin’s Alonso said in an interview. . “Now I’m proving that I’m still fast at any age – that’s part of the comeback story. Winning the 33rd Grand Prix or fighting for a championship would add even more drama to the story.”

After all, he was away from the sport for two years, 2019 and 2020, but during that time he kept racing and rediscovered the joy of winning. He became World Endurance Champion with Toyota, took the checkered flag in the 24 Hours of Daytona and won one of the most prestigious races in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Twice.

Despite his strong start to the season, it has been 10 years since the 41-year-old Alonso last won a Grand Prix. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the reigning two-time champion who leads this year’s title race, would like to see Alonso win again.

“I think Fernando should have won a lot more races than he did,” said Verstappen. “I think he deserves a lot more. So I would be really happy if he won number 33. But in a way I would also like to see him win more, so we’ll see in the next few races.”

Alonso returned to Formula 1 in 2021 with Alpine with moderate success, but his star rose midway through last year after Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, a four-time champion, announced his retirement. Alonso, an old friend of Lawrence Stroll, the team owner, quickly agreed to a deal.

“I got a call from Lawrence asking if I was already committed to Alpine,” said Alonso. ‘I didn’t say yet. My conversations with Alpine were quite sophisticated, but I had nothing on paper.

“He said if I send you something on paper today, you’ll consider it. He sent it, I was happy and since I had nothing from the other side it was an easy decision. Everything went faster because of that relationship over the years.”

In an interview, Stroll said he was determined to get Alonso for several reasons. “He is clearly one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1 and his motivation has never been greater.

“When I spoke to him he said, ‘Listen, I can add something to this team in my last few years. I will be driving and hopefully I will have a role within Aston Martin for many years to come when I stop driving.’ When he said that, I didn’t need much convincing.”

The agreement is based on a friendship that began when Alonso Stroll and his then 12-year-old son, Lance, first met at a go-kart event in Canada in 2011.

Lance Stroll was a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and Alonso was in his second season of five with the team. Now they are teammates at Aston Martin.

“I wouldn’t say we were in a relationship when I was 12,” said the younger Stroll. “I was just a fanboy. But yes, there is a great dynamic in the team right now. I certainly enjoy working with him. He is incredibly talented, knowledgeable, experienced and hungry to get the best out of himself every day.”

Alonso said he remembered the first meeting with his teammate and said it’s “nice to look back on now. I also remember staying at Lawrence’s house in Northern Canada in my last year at Ferrari in 2014 , after the race in Montreal I was training there for a week.

“I’ve also visited Lawrence in Monaco on his yacht in the past and we’ve had dinner, so we have this kind of relationship and we’ve always been in touch.”

Alonso said it made it easy for him and Stroll to turn their friendship into “a professional partnership”.

Stroll bought the team in 2018, when it was known as Force India, and renamed it Racing Point. Two and a half years later, he bought a major stake in the Aston Martin car company, enabling him to bring the brand back to Formula 1 in 2021 after a 61-year absence.

That year he said he expected the team to be vying for the world title within five years, aided by the construction of a new factory and wind tunnel at a cost of “more than $250 million,” he said. The workforce has increased from “350 people to about 780 today.”

The move to the factory is imminent. The wind tunnel, which will allow the team to aerodynamically test a scale model of a Formula 1 car, will open next spring.

With Alonso’s performance, the results are ahead of forecasts with the team in second place for the constructors’ title.

“When we signed that deal last year in early August, Fernando didn’t know the car would be this fast,” said Lawrence Stroll. “But he did know about all the passion I put into it, the great people I hired, the great facilities I was building, and he wanted to be a part of it. He believed.”

Alonso is surprised by how quickly he has achieved results. “I trusted the project and thought it was a great adventure for me at the end of my career, to start with a team that has so much enthusiasm and good prospects,” he said.

“But I thought it would take time to get to a certain level,” he added, “that maybe we can fight for podiums in 2024. I didn’t expect the car to deliver the kind of performance we’re getting now to have.”

A second retirement and a role with Aston Martin beyond are far from his thoughts. Alonso is having too much fun again. “I am aware of my age,” he said. “I know I’m not going to be here for the next 10 years or whatever, so if I stop racing I’m going to be linked to the team in some way.”

He is hopeful that when that day comes again, his wait for victory number 33 will be over.

“Winning a championship would be perfect,” said Alonso. “If I win another championship all these years since my last one, it would be unprecedented, such a distance between two championships. That’s my goal at the moment.

“Or the legacy I want to leave in this sport, from someone who loves it so much that I kept racing for years to keep the level as high as possible. That would be a point, something that was part of my comeback.

The team owner is not surprised that although Alonso is in his 40s, his desire and fitness are strong.

“These guys are gladiators,” Stroll said. “The condition he has kept himself in physically and mentally and his motivation is higher than ever. He is absolutely determined to win. The guy is just a big motivational ball. He picks everyone up and says, ‘Come on, we’re going to win.’”

Another win, another title are motivations, but he has another desire. “I want to start a family,” says Alonso, who is divorced and has no children. “This is my biggest dream in life. Because of my way of life, I still haven’t managed to do that. That is something where I will find my happiness when I stop racing.”