Alonso returns to the starting box

Fernando Alonso has always done things his way, a circumstance that has brought him great success with a steering wheel in his hands and less luck when he has had to drive his future.

The majority of authorized voices that coexist within the Formula 1

agree in defining, at least as surprising, that a guy with the enormous ability of the Spaniard only has two championship titles on his service sheet.

At 41 years old, that parameter will hardly change if we take into account that in 2023 he will run in Aston Martin's overalls, the car that this Sunday finished seventh in the classification reserved for manufacturers, after finishing its third chapter at Renault ( Alpine), who made it as the fourth.

In Abu Dhabi, in the event that brought the curtain down on a season dominated at will by Max Verstappen and Red Bull, the Dutchman claimed his 15th victory, thus establishing a new absolute record.

The podium was completed by Charles Leclerc and Checo Pérez, while Carlos Sainz crossed the finish line in fourth.

With this combination, the Monegasque certified the runner-up for drivers and Ferrari for manufacturers.

Alonso did not even see the checkered flag when accumulating the sixth retirement of this 2022, due to a breakdown, right in the middle of the test (lap 28) and when he was shooting the tenth.

In his last grand prix in F1, Sebastian Vettel finished tenth, penalized for a disastrous strategy.

This Tuesday, in the first rehearsals focused on the coming year, the Spaniard will premiere the Aston Martin, even though he will do it dressed in black and thanks to the safe-conduct obtained from Alpine.

Since he signed for McLaren, just after celebrating his first win (2005) and with still a year to go linked to Renault, the man from Oviedo has been repeating a pattern wherever he has gone.

That first period of falling in love, compliments and good intentions often led to a second phase of tension that escalated to a third, bad vibes.

See the examples that were given from his first experience with the Woking team (2007), from where he left by legs to return to Renault;

in the five years that he competed for Ferrari (2010-2014), where he arrived as the savior and left exhausted and frustrated in equal measure;

and the same thing happened in his second episode at McLaren (2015-2018), just before his first withdrawal from the championship.

Not even his resounding return to the World Cup, with Alpine and with all the honours, made that narrative model change: after a first season of testing, tempers flared on both flanks.

On the one hand, the two-time champion was running out of patience when he realized that the project that, he said, had been promised to him, had not come to fruition, an impression perfectly reflected in the results: a victory for Esteban Ocon (Hungary 2021) and two podiums in total (one each), in two years.

At the same time, Alpine bluffed by renegotiating with him and the play turned out to be a frog, since he was left without his main claim with a view to a future as uncertain for Alonso as for the Enstone team (Great Britain).

This outcome marked a clear turning point in the relationship that up to that moment the stiletto theoretical of the structure maintained with the company executive, and also with his workshop neighbor.

The tension between Ocón and Alonso escalated, as was perfectly clear, without going any further, a week ago, in Brazil, where both got into a fight both on Saturday, during the sprint race, and on Sunday, from the start and throughout the race. almost the entire test.

The path of both has already separated, and while one will move to another garage, with the owner's son on the other side –Lance Stroll, Alonso's new workshop neighbor, is the son of Lawrence, the owner of Aston Martin– , the other will face Pierre Gasly, French like Ocon, hired as an emergency solution and who is fully aware of the limitations of his new team.

The Spanish,

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