Flavio Blavio, the manager of Fernando Alonso, has revealed why he pushed the Spaniard to join Aston Martin for the 2023 season.
Last August, Alonso announced that he would depart Alpine and join Aston Martin to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel.
The move raised eyebrows as the Silverstone-based squad was struggling in the bottom half of the Consturctors’ Championship, while Alpine looked to be on course to solidify fourth.
However, it has turned into a dream move for Alonso – at the opening five rounds of the year, he has taken a step onto the podium on four occasions.
Aston Martin is heavily investing in its F1 structure, establishing a new factory as well as poaching key engineers from some rival teams.
Briatore claims that he gave the nod to Alonso to jump ship as he could see that Aston Martin was a squad with a progressing future.
“[Fernando] is the real surprise of this World Championship, with Aston Martin, a team that until last year was not competitive,” Briatore told Il Riformista.
“Then they raided the number two of Red Bull and Mercedes, and are investing heavily in technology and the factory.
“For these reasons, I pushed Fernando to join Aston Martin, which is now in second [in the Constructors’ Championship] after five grands prix.
While Red Bull has been the stars of the 2023 season to date, winning at all five rounds so far, Briatore has backed Alonso to walk away from the year with a win in his back pocket.
“Aston did well in the last round in Miami, although it was not exactly a circuit that suits the car well, but if nothing unexpected happens, the World Championship is already [decided], but some circuits like Monte Carlo can always [bring] a big surprise.”
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