Will Alonso be given a second chance?
Driver market moves in Formula 1 are like dominoes. There is healthy speculation that the knock-on effect of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari exit will facilitate the sensational return of Fernando Alonso.
Vettel’s exit and Ferrari’s move to replace him with Carlos Sainz Jr led Mclaren to identify Daniel Ricciardo as its next driver very early on. So these deals happened swiftly and Renault ended up angry at the entire affair.
Team boss Cyril Abiteboul has hit out at Daniel Ricciardo’s perceived lack of loyalty in a notso-subtle swipe in a Renault statement confirming Ricciardo’s exit. And while Alonso hasn’t been so much as mentioned as a possible replacement, he would tick a lot of boxes: fast, hungry, attractive to sponsors and a boost to team members and a Renault board that Ricciardo’s exit will not sit well with.
Alonso hasn’t raced in F1 since 2018. He left Mclaren citing frustrations over the domination of the championship by three teams, but kept the door open to a return if an opportunity to succeed again actually arose.
This meant the new technical rules that were due to come into force in 2021. These have been delayed to 2022, but that may not deter Alonso from a Renault comeback – which would be his third stint with the Enstone team.
If Renault’s competitive prospects are as bright as it insists, then it could be Alonso’s route back into race-winning machinery. Or it could be a way to make himself relevant again, before manoeuvring himself into position for one final hurrah in 2022 or 2023.
Alonso’s keen. He has always hinted that F1 remained an option and it’s clear that winning the Le Mans 24 Hours twice and the World Endurance Championship, plus failed bids to return to the Indianapolis
500 and a Dakar Rally debut, have not quite scratched his competitive itch.
“Next year, I know more or less what I’m doing,” said Alonso one week before the Vettelinduced merry-go-round began. “You will know very soon. I can say no more.”
For all the baggage Alonso brings – described as an agent of “chaos” by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner back in 2018 – he is likely to be the most competitive of Renault’s realistic options.
It could turn to another of its former drivers, Nico Hulkenberg, but otherwise may well be looking at picking from its roster of proteges. Formula 2 racers Guanyu Zhou and Christian Lundgaard both have potential futures in F1, but at this stage are far from ready.