Why the perception of Alonso's Aston Martin switch has transformed

OPINION: Fernando Alonso's switch from Alpine to Aston Martin on a multi-year deal for 2023 was a shock upon its announcement midway through last season. It's a move that has been questioned, given both Alonso's advanced stage in his career and Aston's underwhelming results. But the perception of this switch has seemingly changed to a more positive outlook

Matt Kew Jan 4, 2023, 4:07 PM

Upd: Jan 15, 2023, 7:57 PM

Much has changed in the five months between 1 August 2022 and the first day of the new year. Britain made its way through a couple more prime ministers, crowned a winner of Strictly Come Dancing and Benoit Blanc solved another murder. In that same short period, the perception of Fernando Alonso jumping the Alpine ship to sign for Aston Martin has transformed completely.

Only four days after Sebastian Vettel joined the murky world of social media to announce his retirement from grand prix racing, news broke that Alonso would be filling the void left by his fellow world champion at Lawrence Stroll’s squad. It is known that Alpine was dragging its feet with contract negotiations. Alonso wanted a firm two-year extension but was only being offered the one as his employer tried to keep the camp of FIA Formula 2 and 3 champion Oscar Piastri sweet.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.