Alonso joins Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso will replace Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin on a multi-year deal. The news came as a surprise on Monday when the British team announced on social media that the two-time champion would join the team after his third stint at the Enstone based Alpine team.
Aston Martin says Alonso has signed a “multi-year deal”, following Vettel’s announcement of his retirement on Thursday. Aston Martin, currently second bottom in the standings, hailed the signing as “a clear statement of intent” as they look to build a winning team.
Team owner Lawrence Stroll said, “This Aston Martin team is clearly applying the energy and commitment to win, and it is therefore one of the most exciting teams in Formula One today.”
Alonso added, “I have known Lawrence and Lance for many years and it is very obvious that they have the ambition and passion to succeed in Formula One. I have watched as the team has systematically attracted great people with winning pedigrees, and I have become aware of the huge commitment to new facilities and resources at Silverstone.”
“the passion and desire to perform that I have witnessed convince me to maintain my enjoyment and commitment to the sport. I intend to win again in this sport and therefore I have to take the opportunities that feel right to me.”
It brings to an end the Spaniard’s third stint at Alpine/Renault having raced for the Enstone-based team between 2001-2006, 2008-2009 and 2021-2022. He won both his world titles for the team in 2005 and 2006, Alonso hasn’t won a race for the team since 2009, but took victories during his time at Ferrari.
Luring Alonso is the latest coup for Aston Martin, who have made several high-profile moves behind the scenes since Stroll acquired the team – formerly known as Racing Point and before that Force India.
Stroll added “I have known and admired Fernando for many years and it has always been clear that he is a committed winner like me. I have set out to bring together the best people and develop the right resources and organisation to succeed in this highly competitive sport, and those plans are now taking shape at Silverstone.”
The news comes days after Vettel’s retirement and may be a sign that in the building phase of the team Aston Martin want an experienced and big name driver to lead the team. Alonso’s form has been arguably been in better form than Vettel’s for the past two seasons despite his ageing years.
For Alpine as well it solves the headache of what to do with Oscar Piastri, the south African who has dominated F2 last year has been left without a set for 2022.
Red Bull extend Honda partnership
Red Bull and Honda have announced their technical partnership will continue until 2025. The Japanese manufacturer withdrew from the sport last year but has continued to supply Red Bull with its power units this season via a subsidiary company called Honda Racing Corporation.
The contract extension of two years means Red Bull will continue until the end of the current engine regulations. Honda initially left F1 to concentrate its research and development resources on carbon-neutral technologies.
But because engine performance is frozen in F1 until the end of 2025, Honda is confident it can continue to manufacture and supply Red Bull with power units without diverting extra resources away from its R&D department. Red Bull motorsport advisor, Helmut Marko said “We thank Honda for their positive response to working together. We are excited to continue our partnership in F1 until the end of 2025 with the PU supplied by Honda.
“We have had a successful relationship so far, winning the drivers’ championship in 2021 and currently leading the drivers’ and teams’ classifications, with the aim of securing both 2022 titles.”
Koji Watanabe, president of Honda Racing Corporation, added: “We have agreed to continue supporting Red Bull Power Trains in Formula One through HRC, following Red Bull’s request to extend our current agreement, which HRC can meet within its existing resources.
“Once again, we aim to use our involvement in the pinnacle of motorsport for the development of technologies and of our workforce.”
Its expected and talks are already underway with Porsche about a joint venture from 2026 when the next set of engine regulations are brought in. it could see Porsche buy fifty per cent of the F1 team and contribute to engine development at Red Bull’s new powertrains department in Milton Keynes.
After Honda announced its departure from F1, Red Bull decided to invest in its own powertrain department that has been set up on its campus and will produce the team’s engines from 2026 onwards with or without car manufacturer support.
Verstappen praises strategist for Budapest win
Max Verstappen praised the efforts of Red Bull strategist Hannah Schmitz for her role in his Hungarian Grand Prix victory, saying she remained “insanely calm.” The Dutchman charged through the top ten to take victory in Budapest which also allowed him to extend his lead over Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen was aided by a superior strategy that saw him avoid using the hard compound tyre after struggling for grip during the reconnaissance laps to the grid, prompting a change in plan for the race. Meanwhile, Ferrari in what has been a theme §over the last few years saw its race unravel with poor strategy when it switched Leclerc to hard tyres dropping him to sixth.
Asked by Motorsport.com about the importance of relying on the §pit wall for make or break strategy calls, Verstappen said it was “incredibly important if you want to fight for a championship” and cited the role of Schmitz, who serves as Red Bull’s principal §gy engineer.
Verstappen said after the race, “You can’t afford many mistakes. It’s of course very hard to always be on the good side, let’s say it like that. But I think we have a lot of good guys and girls in the team. Today, I think Hannah, our strategist, was insanely calm. Yeah, she’s very good.”
Ferrari, despite the mistake, still claimed there was ‘no chance’ of them taking victory given the cooler conditions, having also seen Carlos Sainz slip out of podium contention despite avoiding the hard tyre compound.
Verstappen was unsure Red Bull had a pace advantage over Ferrari, saying it was “choosing the right tyres at the right time” that led to his race win. Adding “We know that our car is, in general, is quick but I think throughout the race, Ferrari was also very fast, just they made the wrong call with the hard tyre.”
Ferrari doubts it could have won in Hungary
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has doubts even without the teams strategy slip up it would have been able to win the Hungarian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc’s chances of victory in Budapest faded after a switch to the hard tyre saw his pace drop off dramatically.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz could only manage fourth after also falling out of contention for victory as Ferrari struggled in the cooler than expected conditions throughout the race. Although Binotto conceded Ferrari did not get Leclerc’s strategy right and should not have used the hards, he doubted Ferrari could have beaten Max Verstappen and Red Bull to victory.
Asked if it was possible for Ferrari to win in Hungary, Binotto replied, “I don’t think so we were lacking today was really speed and pace. I don’t think we could have won today, and the reason [for that], I don’t know.”
“Because it’s the first time in the first thirteen races that we didn’t have the speed to be there for the victory. We need to look at first into that performance-wise to understand. I’m pretty sure we’ll then understand that, and we’ll understand as well why the tyres were not working properly.
Ferrari’s mistakes allowed Verstappen to extend his lead over Leclerc to eighty points, Sainz felt that performance was the primary issue for Ferrari’s struggles in Hungary, not its strategy, comparing his race to that of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who started seventh before finishing second.
Sainz said “You compare my pace on softs with Lewis, it’s clear that we went from being much quicker on Friday to slower today. In the end, we were stopping early because we were running out of fronts, and in the end, yes maybe the pace wasn’t bad, but for fifteen laps then we were degrading. Today we have to analyse why these temperatures affected us.”
