Alain Prost admits why Fernando Alonso left F1 icon ‘very worried’

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Alain Prost admits he was ‘very worried’ when Fernando Alonso joined Alpine but he ‘really surprised’ the Formula 1 legend ‘in a good way’ before going to Aston Martin.

Renault signed Alonso to race for its newly rebranded Alpine team from 2021 to return to F1 after two years away. But Prost, who served as the team’s executive director from 2015 until 2022, feared the two-time drivers’ champion would break the balance at the Enstone squad.

Alonso has carried a reputation across his Formula 1 career for being a political game player within his teams. Especially over the Spaniard’s first stint at McLaren in 2007, he showed his mind games clear as day at the Hungarian GP amid his and Lewis Hamilton’s power struggle.

Fernando Alonso has a reputation as a political game player

Friction was already bubbling between Alonso and a rookie Hamilton before it all came to a head at the Hungaroring. The 42-year-old clarified in August 2023 that he was annoyed with McLaren for initially giving him older tyres in qualifying, so blocked Hamilton in their pit box.

Alonso’s relationship with former McLaren boss, Ron Dennis, deteriorated thereafter and he only spent 2007 in Woking. Yet he returned to the Papaya squad in 2015, only to infamously bemoan the underperforming ‘GP2 engine’ Honda gave McLaren at that year’s Japanese GP.

Jarno Trulli also revealed in April 2021 that Alonso was already playing mind games when he first drove at Renault. The pair were teammates in Enstone and Trulli felt the 2005 and 2006 champion with the French outfit quickly sought to be at the centre of Renault’s full attention.

Fernando Alonso made Alain Prost ‘very worried’ at Alpine

So, Alonso returning to Enstone as Renault rebranded its F1 team as Alpine in 2021 left Prost fearing the worst. But the four-time drivers’ champion was pleasantly surprised with how he was the model professional in every way before joining Aston Martin after the 2022 season.

“He really impressed me in the first year he came to Alpine,” Prost admitted, via quotes by GP Fans. “Not only on the track but outside, by the way he was handling things.

“I was very worried before he came and he really surprised me in a good way. He was really good – no problems, no politics.”

Alonso also continued to impress Prost after switching Alpine for Aston Martin in 2023. The Oviedo native led the Silverstone squad to fifth in the constructors’ championship and took P4 in the drivers’ standings after his ‘dream’ year with eight podium finishes and 206 points.

Prost added: “This past year at Aston Martin, for sure, he did a fantastic season.”