Fernando Alonso believes Aston Martin’s acquisition of ex-Mercedes Formula 1 engine head Andy Cowell shows the team is “still appealing” despite its recent slump.
Aston Martin announced earlier this week before the British Grand Prix that Cowell will take over from Chief Executive Officer Martin Whitmarsh at the side in October.
Cowell was Managing Director at Mercedes AMG HPP until 2020 and held an instrumental role in the marque dominating F1 upon a reset to the engine rules in 2014.
The Briton’s impending arrival comes amid a dip in competitiveness at Aston Martin that has seen it go from taking podiums last season to struggling to score points.
Aston Martin is also rumoured to have poached Ferrari Technical Director Enrico Cardile and is known to be courting the outgoing Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey.
“I can only evaluate Andy Cowell probably, all the others are just rumours,” Alonso said.
“But yeah, the only one rumour that was not in the press for many months was Andy Cowell, and he was the one surprise for everyone.
“I’m very happy obviously, I don’t know him personally and I only respect him as an opponent in the past, but I’m looking forward to meeting Andy and to chat about his view in the team.
“Obviously, Lawrence [Stroll, owner] has a lot of trust on him. Also, Martin, which by the way, I want to say thanks great contribution for Aston Martin.
“When Martin arrived in the team, it was just the transition from his previous name to Aston Martin and he did a lot for the team and for the organization.
“So yeah, hopefully before Martin leaves, we can deliver something on track to make him happy.”
Alonso has claimed that Aston Martin’s latest high-profile recruit is evidence the team remains an enticing destination as it strives to develop into a title challenger.
“It is exciting, I mean Aston Martin is a very exciting project. We are aware of our results on the weekends that are not good enough.
“We need to get better, we need to get to a position first to be in the top ten every race and be in the points, and then fighting for podiums and for victories as we did last year.
“We are not in that position yet, so everything is a little bit more difficult to express how motivated and how exciting everyone is in the team.
“We are still very appealing for talent as we see with Andy and some of the names that are linked to the team.
“New facilities, maybe you saw this morning, but every time that I come here for the simulator, it is getting bigger and bigger, buildings two and three nearly finished, wind tunnel at the end of the year coming. So this is for sure very attractive for many people in the paddock and for many great engineers.
“So yeah, hopefully the team is in good shape, we just need to deliver on track on Sunday, which is the most difficult thing.”
Cowell’s expertise in powertrain development will witness him assist with the Silverstone-based squad’s move from Mercedes units to Honda from the 2026 season.
Asked whether he thinks Cowell will be valuable in that regard, Alonso replied: I would say so, but that’s an opinion from the outside, or you maybe know him more than what I do.
“But yeah, with his background and experience, it’s a crucial time for the team being with Honda and having our own gearbox, our own fuel with Aramco, that we are not sharing with other teams or any other Honda-powered teams, so yeah, definitely there are a couple of big challenges ahead for our team.
“And these kind of people and great engineers and designers will help us for sure.”
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