Inspirations come from everywhere, one just has to look out for them. Daniel Ricciardo’s horrific start at Renault taught the veteran Fernando Alonso a thing or two about starting off with a new team. The two-time-world champion took inspiration from the mistakes that he made at Alpine together with Ricciardo’s blunder to kick-start his Aston Martin career on a high. What were Alonso’s learnings and how did he implement them?

Fernando Alonso came back to F1 in 2021 after spending two years away from the sport. The five-season prior to his premature retirement was traumatic at McLaren. However, Fernando Alonso was interested in Alpine’s new F1 project and joined the teams with the hopes of winning the championship. The Spaniard’s return and plan to win the championship was famously nicknamed “El Plan”. Alpine failed at the promise and did not come anywhere close to challenging the top runners. Alonso’s El Plan started sinking, but Aston Martin came and rescued the hype train around the Spaniard.

The 41-year-old seemed to have learned from his spell at Alpine and had taken a different approach at the start of his Aston Martin career. Alonso recently suggested that he studied Daniel Ricciardo’s troubles when he joined Renault. He explained how he faced the same troubles at Alpine and arrived at Aston Martin with better preparation and an idea about the troubles. The Spaniard talks about telling the people at Aston Martin about his driving style, assistance system, and steering column preferences. The team worked with Alonso and he was already in the simulator by January.

According to lasexta.com, Fernando Alonso said, “I studied Daniel Ricciardo’s concerns when he left Red Bull for Renault. I was prepared for it because I had also experienced it in Alpine. So, as soon as I arrived at Aston Martin, I anticipated the problem. I told you about my driving style, the assistance system, the steering column. We worked together on some ideas and at the beginning of January I was already in the simulator or in the factory getting ready.”

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Fernando Alonso has had a wonderful beginning to his career at Aston Martin. However, the recent podium in Australia didn’t come without the drama during the final laps, and questions were raised against the FIA. What are Fernando Alonso’s thoughts on the decisions made by the FIA?

Fernando Alonso’s thoughts on FIA’s decision to Red Flag the race after the Magnussen crash.

Fernando Alonso almost lost his podium when Carlos Sainz crashed into him at the restart after the red flag. However, he was saved as FIA decided to rearrange the grid at the next restart. The Spaniard believes the red flag was there for a reason, but will definitely question the race director about the same at the next race in Baku. Alonso is of thought that the accident was better suited for a safety car and a red flag wasn’t required.

According to racingnews365.com, Fernando Alonso said “If there is a red flag, it has to be for a reason, We will ask probably in Baku what was the reason for the second [red flag]. I know there was a piece of tire debris in the first straight but the car itself was on the inside of Turn 4 so it felt quite safe there. And the Safety Car is for those kinds of reasons so yeah, for us, maybe it was a different opinion.”

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What do you make of Fernando Alonso’s approach while joining Aston Martin?