Alain Prost admits that Fernando Alonso “surprised me positively” upon his comeback to Formula 1 in 2021, having retained misconceived concerns about the driver’s attitude.
Alonso elected to walk away from the sport at the end of 2018 after becoming disillusioned with McLaren delivering a series of uncompetitive and unreliable cars.
However, following two years of racing elsewhere, the Spaniard returned to F1 with the Renault-owned Alpine squad for whom Prost served as a Non-Executive Director.
Prost concedes that he was apprehensive about Alonso coming back to the Enstone-based squad due to the perception from the outside that he could be a disruptive figure.
But the four-time World Champion has revealed that those doubts were dispelled when he began working with the Spaniard and was impressed with his dedication.
“When he arrived for his first year at Alpine in 2021, I was quickly impressed by him,” Prost told Motorsport Magazine.
“Not only on the track, but also off the track. That was mainly because of the way he approaches things.”
“I was very worried before he came, but he surprised me positively. He was very good, no problems and no political play.”
Alpine announced on the eve of the 2022 campaign that Prost would not continue in his role, with the Frenchman blasting the group for showing a “lack of respect” to him.
Meanwhile, Alonso also criticised Alpine’s “lack of professionalism” after a delay in sorting out a contract renewal paved the way for him to switch to Aston Martin in 2023.
“The second was that Alpine had been negotiating for several months and nothing was ever finalised. We agreed on everything, but the paper didn’t arrive, and I noticed a lack of professionalism,” Alonso told Spanish radio programme El Larguero last year.
“At Aston, we had everything clear on Saturday after [Sebastian] Vettel’s [retirement] announcement on Thursday, the role on the table. This willingness to have me seduced me.
“It was an adventure, there was a risk, but it worked out well and the hunch worked this time. There were a few hours with both offers on the table, but I saw more ambition in Aston Martin.”
Alonso’s latest career move proved to be a well-timed one as it coincided with Aston Martin emerging as the closest threat to Red Bull’s dominance at the start of last term.
Although the British marque’s competitiveness would regress, Alonso still bagged eight podiums in total and ended up in fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship.
Prost has commended the two-time champion’s continued excellence despite now being 42 years of age, adding: “He also did very well last season at Aston Martin.”
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