F1 News
Alonso hands Stella the bill: "I should be part of his bonus"
Fernando Alonso has a complicated history with McLaren which spanned for two different periods in the Spaniard's career. Both stints, however, proved unfruitful for Alonso who failed to win his third world driver's championship while driving for the now resurgent and championship winning British brand. The Spaniard looks to McLaren's rapid ascent through the ranks and describes it as something his current employer, Aston Martin, needs to work on, while reminding current McLaren boss, Andrea Stella, he 'should be part of the Italian's Championship bonus'.
After winning his second world title for Renault, in 2006, Alonso's search for his third world title has proven to be somewhat elusive. With a first stint at McLaren, interrupted due to a controversial dynamic with Lewis Hamilton, a return to Renault, a move to Ferrari, before returning to McLaren and later on making a comeback with Alpine after having retired from the sport for two years, one cannot fault the Spaniard for a lack of trying.
Alonso sets target for Aston Martin
However, since his return to Aston Martin, Alonso has managed to claim 8 podiums and a 4th place finish in the drivers' standings. Of course his 2024 woes have dampened his pedigree with the Silverstone based squad, but looking to the future with former Red Bull designer guru, Adrian Newey, joining Aston Martin in 2025 together with Enrico Cardile, former Ferrari Head of Aerodynamics, the British racing team looks set to be on rise for 2026. Does McLaren's success give Alonso hope? Speaking to media present, including GPblog, after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Spaniard shares his thoughts on the matter.
"The biggest change was last year they did not match in 2019, they did not match in 2020, they did not match in 2021, they did not match in 2022, they did not match in 2023 until Austria that they were in the podium. In Austria, they introduced a package that they gained six, seven tenths and that was the beginning of a series of packages that put the car as the fastest eventually. So that Austria package, this is something that we need to work on," Alonso began.
"Hope Abu Dhabi gives you back what it took from us in 2010"
The driver of car #14 has kept an eye on McLaren, not only from a sportive point of view, but also due to the many friends he has there in the team, like current McLaren Racing CEO, Zak Brown, with whom he will spend some days at a track they rented together, and current McLaren boss, Alonso's former colleague at Ferrari, Andrea Stella.
"I'm a good friend of Zak. I'm a very good friend of Andrea. In a way, I brought him to McLaren when I joined McLaren. I told him before the race 'what Abu Dhabi took from our hands in 2010, hopefully today it gives something back to you,' and it did. So, happy for him. He deserved it. He's a very clever guy. As I said, McLaren is an example for many teams now". Alonso lost the Championship in Abu Dhabi 2010 with Ferrari as he was unable to make a move on Vitaly Petrov, Russian driver for Lotus Renault at the time.
As to whether or not he was suggesting he should have some of the credit for McLaren's win given he was the reason the Italian first joined the Woking-based team, who helped them to the 2024 Constructor's championship, Alonso joked: "Yes, I should be part of his bonus".
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