Alonso drives the engine that has triumphed the most times in the hybrid era of Formula 1.
Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin are being the surprise of the first races of the 2023 Formula 1 season. Their results are better than expected, especially considering that the British team finished seventh last year in the Constructors’ World Championship, and that Alonso was not renewed in his previous team for more than a year ‘due to age’.
Aston Martin F1 has done a great job over the winter to reduce the huge gap that separated it from the second team on the grid (Ferrari), which is the team it can now afford to overcome in their battles on the track. Newly signed Red Bull technician Dan Fallows and his team have done a great job at the Silverstone factory… and this is just the beginning.
In addition to having a good chassis, good aerodynamics and a team that doesn’t make mistakes in races, to achieve good results in Formula 1 it’s essential to have a good engine.
In the premier class, teams can currently build their own V6 Turbo engine – much more expensive – or partner with one of the manufacturers on the grid, such as Honda, Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari.
Aston Martin, since its return to Formula 1 in 2022, has mounted a Mercedes engine. This choice makes perfect sense, because the predecessors of the British team, Force India and Racing Point, mounted this power unit and there are already good ties between the two structures. Also, Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll has a good relationship with Mercedes’ Toto Wolff.
Nor should we overlook the fact that the current Mercedes engine of the Aston Martin AMR23 is based on the one that, in 2014, became the key to the success of the Mercedes F1 team, leading the new hybrid era of the premier class of motorsport. Since then, it has been a benchmark in terms of performance and reliability.
In addition to the Mercedes unit, the Aston Martin AMR23 shares other components with Mercedes F1, such as the gearbox and the rear chassis, with the aim that the adaptation to its parts is positive.
The ‘return’ of Fernando Alonso to Mercedes
Interestingly, Fernando Alonso has returned to racing with a Mercedes engine for the first time since his departure from McLaren-Mercedes after the controversial 2007 season.
At that time, when Mercedes was a McLaren shareholder, it was rumored that the star company and its big bosses had ended up very unhappy with Alonso’s attitude and with the controversies that surrounded McLaren that year, such as the case of espionage and internal battle between Hamilton and the Spanish.
The story is very different 16 years later. Many faces have changed, but Alonso is still there, and the talent has overcome any possible barrier to return to being – in this case through a client – a driver of a Mercedes engine.
