Why a ‘very upset’ Fernando Alonso vowed to ‘fight the bad guys’

Having stated there will be “consequences” for spreading rumours, L’Equipe’s Fred Ferret says Fernando Alonso was “very upset” about the stories linking him to Sergio Perez’s Red Bull seat.

Following the Mexican Grand Prix weekend, a rumour began to do the rounds that Red Bull were lining up Alonso as his replacement.

It came on the back of a disappointing Sunday for both drivers with Perez crashing out on the opening lap while Alonso recorded his second DNF in as many races, raising questions about whether he was falling out of love with Aston Martin.

Fernando Alonso was ‘very upset’ by the Red Bull rumours

Alonso hit back at the rumours, telling Brazilian journalist Julianne Cerasoli: “I respect those of you who have been here for years, are professionals, do your job.

“These rumours are coming from people who are not in this room, who are just doing this for fun. But there are consequences.”

According to Ferret, the 42-year-old was “very upset” about the rumours.

“The weekend started with Alonso and Perez rumours about swapping seats,” the L’Equipe journalist told the F1 Nation podcast.

“The first thing that Fernando told us, because he was very upset by all those social media rumours, he told us as journalists of the written press ‘I’m so happy that you are there because I want to fight for you, all guys who are paying your tickets and going all over the world and you know the truth. And I want to fight these bad guys because they’re spreading bad news and they don’t know anything about Formula One and the paddock’.”

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One race later any talk of Alonso wanting to leave Aston Martin was silenced as the Spaniard returned to the podium at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

After six races without a top three, Alonso’s pace hampered by Aston Martin’s struggles with their upgrades, he beat Perez to third place by 0.053s to finish behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

It was an encouraging upturn in form for Aston Martin with Ferret believing next year Aston Martin could be on a par with McLaren.

Told by the podcast host Tom Clarkson that there is “no doubt is there that Fernando Alonso will be at Aston Martin next year, leading the charge for them”, Ferret replied: “Especially when you hear him today saying that they found something, just like Mike Krack said, they are now close with the car.

“They’re a small team becoming a big team. So they need to rethink things and reshape the way they’re building the next car, but I think the next car won’t be a bad one just like the McLaren one.”

Next season will be Alonso’s second and possible final year with Aston Martin, but already there are whispers he could extend for a further season or two.

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