{"id":196602,"date":"2025-06-19T07:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T07:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196602\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T07:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T07:53:11","slug":"fernando-alonso-to-alpine-aston-martin-man-pokes-fun-at-f1-2026-return-rumour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196602\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Alonso to Alpine? Aston Martin man pokes fun at F1 2026 return rumour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aston Martin ambassador Pedro de la Rosa has poked fun at rumours linking Fernando Alonso with a return to the Alpine team for the F1 2026 season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It comes after PlanetF1.com revealed that Alonso visited Alpine for lunch<\/a> over the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso back to Alpine? Aston Martin ambassador laughs off rumours<\/p>\n

Alonso joined Aston Martin from Alpine at the end of the 2022 season, with the move seemingly marking the end of the two-time World Champion\u2019s long-running association with the Enstone-based team.<\/p>\n

Alonso previously won both his Drivers\u2019 titles with Alpine (then Renault) across 2005\/06, returning to the team for a second spell in 2008\/09 before joining the team a third time upon his Formula 1 comeback in 2021.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard, who will turn 44 next month, is tied to Aston Martin until at least the end of the F1 2026 season after signing a multi-year contract extension with the team last April.<\/p>\n

Analysis: Canadian Grand Prix<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Canadian GP conclusions: Fernando Alonso back to Alpine? Why it might make sense<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Canadian GP driver ratings: George Russell isn\u2019t the only perfect racer<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite being under contract, it has been speculated that Alonso could be let go by Aston Martin if the team prove successful in their pursuit of Red Bull driver and reigning four-time World Champion Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n

Aston Martin were linked with an eye-watering $300 million move for Verstappen at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in April.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued to PlanetF1.com at the time<\/a>, Aston Martin distanced themselves from the reports and insisted that they remain fully committed to their current line-up of Alonso and Lance Stroll.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s normal for the media to speculate on driver market, but we have an amazing driver line-up that we are committed to and who are under contract for 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus is on delivering for our drivers by giving them a more consistent and competitive car.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we do, they are both capable of delivering great results.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Croft, the Sky F1 commentator, sparked rumours that a fourth spell at Enstone could be on the cards for Alonso after he made a number of visits to the team\u2019s hospitality unit in Montreal last weekend.<\/p>\n

However, PlanetF1.com understands from sources close to the situation that Alonso was merely having lunch at Alpine in Canada, where his parents were in attendance.<\/p>\n

And De la Rosa, the Aston Martin ambassador who previously worked with Alonso at McLaren and Ferrari, has laughed off suggestions that the two-time World Champion could return to Alpine.<\/p>\n

Taking to social media, the former F1 driver posted an image of Alonso\u2019s parents smiling with Flavio Briatore, the Alpine executive adviser, in the Montreal paddock.<\/p>\n

In the caption, De la Rosa wrote: \u201cHi Alpine, I hope you didn\u2019t sign the wrong Alonso\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Image credit: Pedro de la Rosa (Twitter)<\/p>\n

De la Rosa\u2019s message was accompanied by a laughter emoji and two hashtags reading \u201crumors\u201d and \u201csilly season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alonso is known to have a close relationship with Briatore, who still serves as his manager two decades after overseeing his consecutive title triumphs as team principal of the Renault F1 team.<\/p>\n

Briatore returned to F1 with Alpine ahead of last year\u2019s Spanish Grand Prix, 15 years after being banned for his role in the infamous \u2018Crashgate\u2019 saga surrounding Alonso\u2019s controversial victory at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Marcin Budkowski, the former Alpine boss, claimed in Canada that Briatore \u201cwould probably\u201d like to re-sign Alonso.<\/p>\n

He told Eleven Sports:\u00a0\u201c[On Friday] morning I spoke with my former colleague from Alpine and Fernando walked out of the hospitality area.<\/p>\n

\u201cLater on, I had a meeting there with the person responsible for the Alpine academy, discussing young Polish drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as I was leaving, Fernando was sitting at a table with his girlfriend, who works here as a journalist. His trainer and some people from his entourage were also there.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that was the second time I saw him and now you [the journalist] are saying that someone [Croft] has apparently seen him even four times.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlavio would probably like to have him back in the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo for sure he\u2019s talking to him to keep that option open, just in case something happens at Aston and Fernando can end up at Alpine.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49 Fernando Alonso news<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49 Aston Martin news<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking during his first season with Aston Martin, Alonso revealed that he was all set to commit his future to Alpine in 2022<\/a> before he noticed what he described as \u201ca lack of professionalism\u201d during negotiations.<\/p>\n

Alpine failed to seal a deal for Alonso in 2022, opening the door for Aston Martin to swoop after Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement at that year\u2019s Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Alonso\u2019s switch to Aston Martin was announced the morning after the race in Budapest, just four days after Vettel confirmed his decision to retire.<\/p>\n

It was claimed at the time that Alpine were hesitant to hand Alonso a long-term contract extension due to their excitement over the potential of Oscar Piastri, then the team\u2019s reserve driver.<\/p>\n

Alpine eventually lost both Alonso and Piastri, who opted to join McLaren for his debut season in 2023.<\/p>\n

Appearing on Spanish radio show El Larguero in 2023, Alonso said: \u201cThe first [act] was that Vettel retired.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second was that Alpine had been negotiating for several months and nothing was ever finalised.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agreed on everything, but the paper didn\u2019t arrive and I noticed a lack of professionalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Aston, we had everything clear on Saturday after Vettel\u2019s announcement on Thursday, the role on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis willingness to have me seduced me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an adventure, there was a risk, but it worked out well and the hunch worked this time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a few hours with both offers on the table, but I saw more ambition in Aston Martin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read next:\u00a0Fred Vasseur on alert as shock replacement emerges after Horner approach \u2013 report<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aston Martin ambassador Pedro de la Rosa has poked fun at rumours linking Fernando Alonso with a return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4289,1837,4199,6319,707,4200,225,12,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-alpine","9":"tag-aston-martin","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-fernando-alonso","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-home-page","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114708952101880855","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}