When Sebastian Vettel announced over the summer break that the 2022 season would be his last in Formula 1, Aston Martin acted quickly to arrange a replacement for the four-time world champion for the next season.
The team opted to poach Fernando Alonso from Alpine, replacing one former world champion with another and the team looked to add a proven quality driver to their ranks in the absence of Vettel.
Replacing Vettel with the 41-year-old Spaniard means that Aston Martin will not lose any experience within the team as they continue to try and progress further up into the midfield in the coming seasons.
Technical director for Aston Martin, Dan Fallows, has suggested that an Alonso-Stoll partnership could be an exciting one, with the team continuing to have a strong blend of quality and experience in the team.
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“We do want to produce a car that is significantly better for next year,” he said.
“We want to see that sort of progression, and we need to make sure we have drivers who are able to extract the most out of that.
“As I say, in Lance we have a driver who is able to drive the car, and clearly Fernando has a huge amount of experience and has a proven track record of doing that as well.
“It’s a very exciting driver lineup I think.”
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Aston Martin were tipped to quickly become podium contenders following the rebrand of Racing Point in 2021, however while the team still await the completion of their state-of-the-art facilities, they have been forced to settle with just the one appearance on the podium, coming in Baku in 2021 courtesy of Vettel.
Team owner Lawrence Stroll had set a five-year deadline for the team to compete for the world championship upon purchasing the team two years ago, and his confidence is shared by his new driver, as Alonso has boldly claimed that he believes he has a genuine chance of adding to his two world title in the coming seasons with the team.
The 41-year-old has already taken part in a test day with his new team, after Alpine allowed the Spaniard to take part in the Abu Dhabi post season test with Aston Martin, where the Spaniard expressed his happiness with the progress of his new team.