A suggestion from Barcelona: Fernando Alonso could return to his old team
Fernando Alonso, along with Charles Leclerc, was the big disappointment of Saturday at Montmeló. The Formula 1 veteran will be forced to start the Barcelona Grand Prix—a race held in his home country—from the back of the grid behind the wheel of an Aston Martin, which he was extremely critical of at the end of the day. Adding insult to injury: for the first time in 42 qualifying sessions, he was also beaten by his teammate Lance Stroll. All these factors have fueled an incredible rumor in the paddock: a team switch in 2027. And a return to a team he knows very well, representing a deep love from his past.
Even before the disappointing qualifying session at Montmelò, Alonso had hinted that 2026 could be his last visit to the Catalan circuit as a Formula 1 driver. Yet, according to ‘Motorsport,’ there is another possibility: a sensational return to Alpine. A move that would delight Flavio Briatore, with whom he would reunite the partnership that made both of them world champions in 2005 and 2006 when the team was called Renault. The Spaniard then returned in 2008 and 2009, just before moving to Ferrari. Equally sensational was his 2021 comeback, this time with Alpine, complete with a podium finish in Qatar. It remains to be seen who would make way for him, between “local hero” Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, who boasts the unbridled support of all of Argentina.
“I understand you want to take it out on the team, but the situation is what it is. At Aston Martin we have the worst engine on the grid, problems with the gearbox, aerodynamics, and energy management. We have the worst car and the worst engine; a new car will arrive halfway through the season, but that’s how it is now. And we’ll be last in Austria too,” he told his compatriots at ‘AS’ after the humiliating last-place finish at Montmeló. And who knows, Alpine and Briatore might be just around the corner, ready to take advantage of all this discouragement.
After all, signs of a nightmare season had already emerged throughout the entire Catalan weekend. In Friday’s free practice, Alonso was more than three and a half seconds off the fastest time, with his Aston Martin firmly relegated to the bottom of the timesheets. A scenario that repeated itself exactly in FP2, where the gap to the top stood at 3.860 seconds, with only teammate Stroll even further behind. Merciless numbers for a driver accustomed to far grander stages.
It should not be forgotten, however, that Alonso had already experienced a rare moment of satisfaction in Monaco, securing his first point of the season—and Aston Martin’s first ever this year—thanks in part to the numerous penalties that had hit other drivers. A precious, almost symbolic point in a championship that has otherwise offered the Asturian very little joy. In that very race in the Principality, among the protagonists was also Pierre Gasly, one of the potential “obstacles” to his possible move to Alpine: the Frenchman in fact secured third place after the FIA upheld Briatore’s team’s appeal, acknowledging an error in the measurement of pit lane speed that had led to two five-second penalties.
What is certain is that Alonso has no intention of giving up without a fight. He demonstrated this with his own words before the Barcelona weekend, when he recalled how much this venue means to him: “I am very proud. I feel a great sense of responsibility knowing that an entire country follows me almost more than the sport itself. I know that many people’s happiness depends on my results. It’s like in soccer: you love the sport, but above all, you care about your team’s results.” Words that perfectly capture the weight he carries on his shoulders every time he takes to the track in Spain, and that make the humiliation of a last-place grid position right in front of his home crowd all the more stinging.
