Alpine boss believes timing of the 32 F1 race winner Fernando Alonso’s announcement to Aston Martin was very surprising

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer gives his honest opinion on Fernando Alonso’s move to Aston Martin, feeling there are no regrets.

Fernando Alonso shocked the F1 paddock after announcing that he will replace Sebastian Vettel in Aston Martin for the 2023 season. Moreover, Alpine’s Otmar Szafnauer was not aware of it.

Otmar Szafnauer signed for Alpine from Aston Martin last year. He felt that Fernando Alonso would sign on the dotted lines and continue as an Alpine driver.

He discussed the situation while negotiating a contract with the Spanish driver at the Belgium Grand Prix’s press conference.

Otmar Szafnauer’s negotiations with Fernando Alonso

Szafnauer felt positive going into talks with the two times world champion. Moreover, the team and Alonso also reached the latter stages of signing a new contract.

The two times world champion was negotiating with other teams as well, something his team had to accept given he was a free agent. Besides, the Alpine boss felt surprised with how quickly Aston Martin announced Alonso as their new driver.

He added: “The only surprising bit was the announcement on a Monday morning after on Sunday night. He [Alonso] indicated that there was no need to rush. So that was really surprising.”

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No regrets, just lessons learned for Szafnauer

Fernando Alonso did inform Renault CEO Luca de Meo and Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi regarding the move to Aston Martin. However, he could not call Szafnauer due to time constraints.

The Romanian-American team principal felt no remorse about losing Fernando Alonso to Aston martin for the 2023 season. He wishes the two times world champion all the good luck going in the future.

Talking about the situation, he added: “I’m sure in any situation there are lessons which we learn. Regrets? We should look back two years from now and see exactly what’s transpired.”

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