Fernando Alonso - Replacing Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin “an option”

Fernando Alonso - Sebastian Vettel

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Alonso - Replacing Vettel “an option”

Former champion refuses to rule out switch to rival team

Will Gray

Thursday 28 July 2022 19:20

Fernando Alonso has revealed he would consider a move to Aston Martin to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel announced in Hungary on Thursday that he will conclude his long career in the sport at the end of this season, sparking immediate speculation as to his potential replacement.

Two-time champion Alonso’s name has been thrown into the ring and although he says that remaining with current team Alpine is his “priority” he refused to extinguish the link to its midfield rival.

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Alonso said: “The summer break will probably be the point when I need to sit down and I need to conclude something and yep, the summer break is on Monday.

“All things are an option as long as they don’t have two drivers signed. My priority is to be with Alpine because we have been working and developing this project together for two years now.

“We are more and more competitive and probably my wish is to stay but we didn’t sit down completely and move forward with things.

“I will be on holiday, bosses will be on holiday as well so we need to fix some video calls or whatever but when two parties want to agree on something, it takes 10 minutes.

“When two parties fight to agree on something, maybe one of the sides is not happy. So it will not take more than 10 minutes with whatever I am talking.”

F1 is “only appealing” category for Alonso

Alonso quit F1 at the end of 2017 after falling out of love with the sport while in his second stint with McLaren, choosing instead to explore other categories, including the Dakar Rally, the Indy 500 and the World Endurance Championship.

The 40-year-old returned last year when Alpine, borne out of the Renault team with which he won his two titles, lured him back with the promise of a project that aimed to get the team back to the front.

That has so far not materialised, but Alonso said: “There is not a crystal ball that you can choose, so I guess, with this set of regulations it seems that Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes are the only teams capable of winning races.

“If you have an opportunity into 2023 with those three teams you will try to join forces. There is no opportunity, so you just need to trust some other projects that they are maybe wishing they are competitive next year.

“I am not in any of those three teams, but I don’t have other challenges in my head now. I don’t have family, and all the other categories, they are not giving me any appeal at the moment, so I’m happy where I am.”