With the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship season entering its one-month break period, Aston Martin Armco Cognizant F1 Team announced that Fernando Alonso will be joining the organization on a multi-year basis, beginning in the 2023 F1 season.
The two-time F1 champion from Oviedo, Asturias, Spain, is currently campaigning in his second full-time season with the BWT Alpine F1 Team and 19th overall in Formula One competition. Through the first 13 of 22-scheduled events in 2022, Alonso has recorded nine top-10 points-paying results, including eight-in-a-row from the Spanish Grand Prix in May through this past weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. He is currently ranked in 10th place in the drivers’ standings with 41 points.
Alonso’s move to Aston Martin comes four days after four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel, who is currently in his second full-time season at Aston Martin, announced plans to retire following the 2022 season. It will also add to Alonso’s extensive motorsports resume of organizations the Spaniard has competed for previously in F1 competition, including Renault, Ferrari and McLaren.
“This Aston Martin team is clearly applying the energy and commitment to win, and it is therefore one of the most exciting teams in Formula One today,” Alonso said. “I have known Lawrence and Lance [Stroll] for many years and it is very obvious that they have the ambition and passion to succeed in Formula One. I have watched as the team has systematically attracted great people with winning pedigrees, and I have become aware of the huge commitment to new facilities and resources at Silverstone. No one in Formula One today is demonstrating a greater vision and absolute commitment to winning, and that makes it a really exciting opportunity for me.”
Through a total of 347 starts in F1, Alonso has achieved two championships, 32 victories, 22 poles and 98 podiums. After initially retiring from F1 competition in 2018 before making a triumphant return this past season with Alpine, he made a triumphant return to the podium in seven years and first since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix after finishing in third place during the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix in November 2021. Alonso continues to pursue his first F1 victory since winning the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.
“I have known and admired Fernando for many years and it has always been clear that he is a committed winner like me,” Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman of Aston Martin, said. “I have set out to bring together the best people and develop the right resources and organisation to succeed in this highly competitive sport, and those plans are now taking shape at Silverstone. It seemed natural therefore to invite Fernando to be part of the development of a winning team, and we very quickly established in our recent conversations that we have the same ambitions and values, and it was logical and easy to confirm our desire to work together.”
“I have witnessed the excitement in the engineering team and throughout the whole organisation at the opportunity to work with Fernando,” Mike Krack, Team Principal of Aston Martin, added. “We know that nearly everyone can learn from someone of Fernando’s calibre and experience. We are confident that he will inspire everyone to lift their game, and that will only enhance the already infectious energy that exists within the team. The team has a new leadership focused on the development of AMR23, and we are all thrilled that they and our future projects will benefit from the knowledge and experience that Fernando will bring.”
With the move, Alonso is expected to compete alongside Lance Stroll, son of Lawrence Stroll who is in his second season at Aston Martin and sixth overall in F1 competition.
With his plans for next season set, Alonso will be returning to action at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix and the continuation of the 2022 F1 season with Alpine on August 28.
