Renault Advisor Reveals Talks With Sebastian Vettel and Valterri Bottas Before Signing Fernando Alonso

The four-time Champion and legendary French driver Alain Prost recently interviewed with RMC Sport. The former racing driver is currently an advisor for the Renault Formula 1 team. He duly denied the speculation about Fernando Alonso being signed with Renault for marketing objective rather than his racing talent.

Fernando Alonso is all set to make his F1 comeback at the age of 40. However, it was made apparent that Renault contacted the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas ahead of the Spaniard.

The Renault F1 team was hunting for a talented driver for the 2021 season. Their current driver, Daniel Ricciardo, signed a contract with McLaren leaving his seat vacant.

Fernando Alonso is a “Brawler”, says Alain Prost

Meanwhile, they have agreed to sign the former F1 Champion, Fernando Alonso for the 2021 season. But the driver was not the only one to get shortlisted for the French team.

Their advisor and former F1 Champion Alain Prost said [as translated by Google], “There were the options of three great champions: Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, and Valtteri Bottas.

“It was a little less obvious for Sebastian in the sense that his motivation was not yet very clear. It was a bit complicated for we[us]. Valtteri, he has the best car on the grid.

“We also wanted to have someone who is not a replacement option, but someone who is perfectly motivated for the project, who knows the team well and who is ready. to make the year 2021 certainly more complicated.“

In terms of marketing strategy, Prost stated, “There is also the whole story behind Fernando with the two world championship titles obtained with Renault. For the brand, it is very important to have a driver of this caliber.

“It was an almost natural and shared choice of all the people in the group, including marketing. It’s a daring choice, but one that is assumed by everyone in the company.

“He has enormous experience, he has known great teams, with successes and problems at the same time. He’s a brawler. When you’re in the middle of the pack when you’re already a world champion and you fight to try and get a point or two.

“To only make a marketing choice will be a mistake.”

The Professor highlighted the age factor by saying, “He never showed it, even when he was with McLaren at 37. He showed that he had not lost his passion.”