Enstone’s team had been close to agreeing a new deal with the two-time F1 world champion before the Spaniard made a shock call to join Aston Martin earlier this week.
A key factor in Alonso’s decision to move teams was that Aston Martin was willing to offer him a much longer-term commitment, believed to last up to three years, including options.
Plus: The shots that fueled Alonso’s unexpected Aston Martin move
Alpine, however, was only willing to commit to a one-year plus one-year deal as it wanted some flexibility in case Alonso’s speed showed signs of waning.
While Alonso, who is 41, dismissed those concerns as unfounded as he says he is still showing no signs of a dip in form, Alpine insists there comes a time when things change.
Reflecting on what Alpine was willing to offer Alonso, team principal Otmar Szafnauer said age could not be discounted, which is why he wanted to protect himself.
“It’s hard to predict the future,” explained Szafnauer. “Like, I always say, if I could predict the future, I wouldn’t be here. I would be in Las Vegas.
“We offered a one-plus-one deal. And we talked to Fernando about it: look, if next year on these dates, you’re performing at the same level, sure, we’ll take you. And that could have continued.
“But I think he wanted more security, regardless of performance: ‘I want to stay longer.’ And I think that was the crux of going one plus one instead of two plus one or three plus one or three years.”
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal, Alpine F1, Pat Fry
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Szafnauer said that even the best drivers like Michael Schumacher were not as good at the end of their careers as when they started.
“There comes a time when something happens physiologically to a driver and you don’t have the same skills as when you were younger,” he said.
“I think it happened to Michael. I think it’s fair to say that Michael Schumacher at 42 was not the same driver he was at 32 or 35. And it happens to other sportsmen as well.
“For cricketers, it’s not a physically demanding sport. It’s about hand-eye coordination, moving the bat to the right millimeters to protect [the stumps].
“But after 32, 33 or 34, the best batsman in the world can’t do it anymore. And that’s because something happens to them. And it happens to race car drivers, too.
“So we were in favor of: yes, if you are performing at the high level, we will certainly keep you. But let’s do it one year at a time and I think I wanted a longer duration.”
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Szafnauer also denied suggestions that Alonso had been rebuffed by good plans for him to join Alpine’s LMDh program at a time when he still felt he had much more to offer F1.
Speaking about this project, Szafnauer said: “We had conversations with Fernando and Laurent as well [Rossi, Alpine CEO]. Sincerely, when you are done in F1, we would love for you to continue with the family and do other races with Alpine. So it wasn’t really a surprise to Fernando, because he agreed to do it and thought it was a good idea.
“The question was, well, when is that going to happen? But when it did, going into Le Mans, I was absolutely happy to continue down that path.”