埃迪乔丹指责费尔南多-阿隆索‘chasing the money’ in F1 career

Eddie Jordan believes Fernando Alonso and manager Flavio Briatore made mistakes in team choices that cost him further world titles.

Fernando Alonso is back near the forefront of Formula 1 this season, having switched from Alpine to Aston Martin for 2023 – a well-timed move as the Silverstone-based squad have one of the quickest cars on the grid.

With four podium finishes from the first five races of the season, Alonso is third in the Drivers’ Championship and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of taking a win this year – last week marked 10 years since Alonso’s most recent F1 win, the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.

Having won two world titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, his move to McLaren resulted in acrimony as he fell out with team management during 2007, triggering a return to Renault before switching to Ferrari in 2010.

Spending five seasons with the Scuderia, Alonso put in some spirited title campaigns – particularly in 2010 and ’12 – but ultimately left Ferrari for McLaren once again for 2015 after five years of disappointment.

But the move proved ill-fated, with the Alonso/McLaren partnership failing to ignite as the Spaniard grew frustrated with the team, and Honda’s, lack of performance and reliability. It led Alonso to quit F1 for two years before returning with Renault/Alpine for 2021.

Eddie Jordan: Fernando Alonso chased the money

Speaking on theFormula For Successpodcast with F1 race winner David Coulthard, former team boss Eddie Jordan said Alonso’s chase of lucrative contracts resulted in his lack of world titles.

While Alonso has two World Championships, dating back to 17 and 18 years ago in the early stages of his career, Jordan opined that the Spaniard could easily have had many more had he made some better decisions with his team choices over the years.

“You can never look backwards,” Jordan said.

“He has to ask himself and he has to ask Flavio – his manager Flavio Briatore and I still are good friends – but you have to remember, Fernando Alonso chased the money.

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“He went to teams where he was getting more money than what he would have got in another team that probably had a better chance of him winning the world title.

“He probably now regrets that because he’s got so much money. Sometimes when you look back, you think that was a mistake. And, if I was to say to Fernando if he was sitting there opposite me, I think Fernando, you made a mistake.

“You’ve still got a great legacy, twice World Champion. But you, in your heart, know it could have been an easy five or six.”

David Coulthard also outlined why he believes Alonso remains so fearsome a competitor despite hitting his forties – usually the point at which drivers have lost their outright edge in the sport.

“Why I think Fernando is so strong is he’s angry,” Coulthard mused.

“He’s angry that he’s only got two world championships, and that anger is what drives him to still have the need.

“That’s the key thing. You don’t lose the speed – you lose the need. He still has the need.”