It’s Saturday at Buddh International Circuit in late October 2012 and Fernando Alonso is despondent.
Three races earlier he held a 37-point lead over Lewis Hamilton at the top of the drivers’ championship. Sebastian Vettel was a further two points behind.Since then Vettel had won three races in a row, erasing Alonso’s championship lead and leaving him with a six-point deficit. He and Red Bull team mate Mark Webber annexed the front row for the Indian Grand Prix, leaving Alonso fifth on the grid, over half a second off the pace.
“At the moment I am, or we are not, fighting against Sebastian only,” said Alonso, “we are fighting against Newey, let’s say, because they are first and second in the last [three] races.”
That moment 12 years ago was Alonso’s last, best chance to win the third world championship he has sought since his back-to-back title wins of 2005 and 2006. Now 43, the longevity of his career has defied the expectations of many, not least himself.
It has been driven by Alonso’s utter conviction that he remains a match for anyone else on the grid. And his equally firm and frequently stated understanding that the key to success in F1 is having the best car.
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Newey’s arrival makes that a serious possibility for Aston Martin in 2026, when new regulations arrive in time for Alonso’s 23rd season in F1. And he is quite convinced of Alonso’s abilities, having previously named him as one of the few drivers on the grid he is most keen to work with in the future.
“We came so close to him joining Red Bull in 2008 for the 2009 season, but unfortunately it didn’t quite happen, which is a great shame, so we continue to battle against each other. He’s a legend of the sport. So I’m very much looking forward to working with him.”
The sport’s most admired designer will join a roster of other senior figures who arrived from Aston Martin’s rivals. Aston Martin’s revamped factory leaves them wanting for nothing in terms of facilities, they will have an exclusive, works power unit supply from Honda and bespoke fuel from Aramco.
For Alonso, this promises to be his final chance to win the world championship after many false starts in recent years. Each time a change in the regulations has offered an opportunity for him to join a team who could exploit it, the outcome has been a disappointment, whether it was Ferrari or McLaren when the V6 hybrid turbo rules arrived, or Alpine when F1 last overhauled its technical regulations in 2022.
But what is coming in 2026 has the potential to dwarf all that. The new regulations mean not just huge changes on the power unit side, but drastic revisions to the cars’ aerodynamics. In Newey, Aston Martin have made the perfect hire to give themselves the best possible chance of getting it right first time.
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The enormous investment Lawrence Stroll has poured into Aston Martin has coincided in an ideal way with the latest shake-up of the F1 rules. The performance of their 2026 car will be the standard by which the value of that investment will be judged.
Moreover, with Aston Martin virtually certain to end this season behind the top four teams in the constructors’ championship, Newey will have the benefit of more development time than they have to hone his 2026 design. And his past form makes it abundantly clear he is not someone who needs to be handed an advantage over his rivals.
Alonso certainly came to understand that earlier in his career. The day after he spoke those words in 2012, Vettel scored his fourth win in a row, taking another step towards his third world title. Newey may now prove the final ingredient which allows Alonso to replicate that feat.
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Robbie1
10th September 2024, 17:21
What a load of bullcrap, Alonso was fighting Vettel and got spanked.
Prime Vettel was faster than prime Alonso.
Please stop with the talking down of drivers
who won in a Newey car, it’s becoming really tiresome considering he failed to give Kimi a proper car and he only worked for the best funded teams.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 18:16
Your theory has to account for Webber being in front of Alonso, and Hamilton.
It requires that Webber be better than both of those drivers – therefore it fails.
I would suggest Vettel was the better of the two RBR drivers and that if all four were in identical machinery Webber would be 4th and Vettel 3rd – the historical record shows what the difference between Alonso and Hamilton in identical machinery is, and that is very little, although Hamilton was a rookie.
As with many of the battles over the years “it’s the car”
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 0:19
Yes, this is the right answer to the comment of someone who can’t tell the importance of machinery.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 0:20
Also agree with the position vettel and webber would’ve had with all having the same car.
Todfod (@todfod)
11th September 2024, 5:50
Would Alonso in a 2010 or 2012 red bull wrap up the season at the last race of the season? Or at least a few races earlier?
Sebastian only knew how to win in a car that had dominant qualifying pace. Alonso has won in much lesser machinery. Alonso could go wheel to wheel and overtake if required, while Seb didn’t know how to do anything other than start on pole and get out of DRS range.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 1:56
What a joke. I don’t think more than 10% of fans (all Vettel lovers) think Vettel could EVER beat Alonso in equal machinery. Vettel had the best car on the grid by a mile and Alonso often didn’t have the 2nd or even 3rd best car on the grid.
You’re living in an absolute dream world.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 2:03
Your comment is even more ironic because it was the insanely fast cars Newey gave Kimi that built his legend. He was just unlucky that they were extremely unreliable. Alonso nearly quadrupled Kimi’s points total and if it weren’t for a puncture at Spa, would have beat him in every single race of the season as well as nearly shutting him out in quali. Meanwhile, you’ve got Seb barely beating Kimi in their second season together despite them always giving Seb the optimal strategy and trying to use Kimi to help Seb’s races.
FlyingLap (@flyinglapp)
10th September 2024, 20:10
So what if Newey designs for AM? You think Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull are going to throw up their hands and give up? Sure, it’s likely the 2016/7 AMs will be in the top four teams, but that’s all Newey gets them. AM will need better drivers, Alonso will be 45/6 then, and Lance needs an F-22 Raptor to win a GP, not an F1 car.
FlyingLap (@flyinglapp)
10th September 2024, 20:11
*Correction: … it’s likely the 2026/7 AMs will be in the top four teams …
SteveP
10th September 2024, 21:46
I’m thinking the F22 is likely to have a problem with track limits
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 0:24
I also wonder if stroll sr. will be happy about a title if it’s won by alonso.
But even so, in all likelihood soon aston won’t have any competitive driver any more.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 2:04
Alonso at 50 will still be nearly as good as Lando, George, Leclerc and the other wanna be greats. So, I won’t be worried about him if he gets a Newey special.
MichaelN
10th September 2024, 23:55
Alonso’s comments from 2012 are less an accurate description of events, and more a dig at Vettel. He’s always had a chip on his shoulder about Vettel, later leading to some rather cringe-worthy attempts to block him when Alonso was at McLaren and being lapped, and a sudden renewed public admiration for his erstwhile rival Hamilton (another driver who kept being beaten by Vettel at the time). He’s never been as gracious as he has been quick, which is unfortunate, but goes some way to explaining his lack of success relative to his talents.
That said, Ferrari was indeed struggling to finish the 2012 season on a high. But it wasn’t just Red Bull they were losing to, it was McLaren as well, and not infrequently Ferrari found itself tangling with Lotus, Mercedes, and more often in qualifying than the races, even Williams.
Still, Alonso won three races and Vettel just five. That run of four wins was great, but he only won a single race all season apart from that brief run. Alonso also finished the season over 70 points clear of third placed Räikkönen. The idea that one car had a huge advantage that year is mostly just bitterness. What Red Bull did have was a solid enough 2nd driver, who won races and took points from their rivals. Ferrari didn’t.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 0:28
I noticed as well that alonso made several nice comments about hamilton in recent times, this could be the reason then, and yet on this very website you have people saying he’s very anti-hamilton, because of 2007.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th September 2024, 0:30
And makes sense about webber being a better number 2 than massa that season, it was the best red bull season for webber and massa post-injury wasn’t the same as before.
SteveP
11th September 2024, 7:39
I was convinced his peripheral vision was limited, he certainly seemed to collide with stuff on that side more when he came back from the injury absence.
The court case seems to suggest it knocked a lot of sense out of him, too.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 2:07
Vettel’s 2010 and 2012 were weak displays by a guy who is supposedly among the GOATs. It probably bothers Alonso that he’d have wrapped up those WDCs two-thirds of the way through the season yet Vettel’s legacy is actually based upon 2010-2012. Only in 2013 did he dominate in the way he should have been all along.
Todfod (@todfod)
11th September 2024, 5:55
As an Alonso fan.. I had given up hope long ago that he’d ever be in a WDC fight again. At least there’s some light at the end of the tunnel now. I still don’t think it’s a guarantee that 2026 puts them as favourites, as it could easily be a engine dominant era, but at least there’s a glimmer of hope in Newey pulling one out of the bag.
Would be great for the sport to see him have a crack at it in 2026
Jungle
11th September 2024, 11:23
It maybe just a hunch. But I suspect Honda will have their PU dialled in for 2026. Newey will just sprinkle the pixie dust over the rest of the package.
Nick T.
12th September 2024, 2:00
And winning near the age of 50 would be a great way to shove a stick into the seeming legions of Alonso “loathers” here and among British fans. I’d say, among the GOATS, no driver gets near the same level of contempt as FA.