Fernando Alonso gave up "golden career" for F1 return with Alpine

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Alonso gave up "golden career" for F1 return with Alpine

Alonso returns to Formula 1 after a two-year absence

Ewan Gale

Wednesday 3 March 2021 13:19

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Alpine F1 racing director Davide Brivio has praised Fernando Alonso for giving up a "golden career" in other motorsport categories in order to return to Formula 1.

After a two-year hiatus, the two-time champion returns to F1 with a team with which he has had two previous spells - under the Renault banner - with the aim of again competing for podiums after a tumultuous relationship with McLaren.

After coming close to an Indianapolis 500 success in addition to Le Mans 24 Hours victories and an outing at the Dakar Rally, Brivio has commended the Spaniard for his competitive edge and decision to return to F1.

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"It’s a great combination," Brivio said of the new driver line-up. "Fernando is a world champion and one of the biggest talents in Formula 1 who will bring his experience and skill to the team.

"He has been away for a couple of years to have another experience but now, he wants to come back to Formula 1, which shows his strong desire to achieve something here and have good results.

"He could have had a golden career in other series, but he wanted to get back to the most competitive environment and compete against some of the new talents coming up."

Alonso will return to partner Esteban Ocon, who enters his second year with the team after he also returned from a sabbatical from the sport at the start of 2020.

Brivio is expecting the Frenchman to continue to build upon the form that carried him to his maiden podium in Sakhir at the end of last season.

"Esteban is an interesting driver as well and he’s amongst the young generation," added Brivio.

"Last year he improved a lot by the end of the season. He reached a good level, which means he can look positively at this season continuing with the same team and a similar car.

"I’m looking forward to seeing them pushing each other. The best combination you get is when the two drivers push each other, so I hope we can have this type of situation both from a sport and a performance point of view."