Transfers: A return for Alonso to Renault in 2021?
Without a steering wheel in F1 since the end of the 2018 season, Fernando Alonso is in the running to succeed Daniel Ricciardo at Renault next season!
Ferrari, McLaren… and now Renault! In the uncertainty about its future, the French team is at the center of attention on the F1 transfer market, following the announcement this Thursday of Daniel Ricciardo’s departure at the end of the season. The Australian driver has decided to join McLaren, to replace Carlos Sainz, the Spanish driver himself taking Sebastian Vettel’s place at Ferrari from 2021.
Returned to Formula 1 four years ago as a constructor, the Renault F1 Team still has the ambition to find its way back to victory, according to its team principal Cyril Abiteboul. Now, who will support Esteban Ocon next year? One driver seems to have an edge…
Negotiations already well advanced between Alonso and Renault?
The possibility of a third stint for Fernando Alonso at Renault is real! Double world champion in 2005-2006 at the end of his first cycle, returning for two seasons in 2008 and 2009, the “Bull of Asturias” has repeatedly expressed in recent months that he wants to return to Formula 1, after leaving McLaren at the end of 2018.
According to the German newspaper Bild, the negotiations between the Spaniard and the French team are already well advanced and close to an agreement! Bild, a rather well-informed media outlet this week, had announced Vettel’s departure from Ferrari as early as Monday evening. The discussions are confirmed in Spain by the daily Marca, which also anticipated the arrival of Carlos Sainz Jr at Ferrari.
Despite his age (40 years old in 2021!), the arrival of Fernando Alonso would make sense: it would represent a great communication move for Renault, which needs a new star to legitimize its project after the abrupt departure of Daniel Ricciardo.
But does the Enstone team have the financial means to afford Alonso? The Spaniard’s salary at McLaren at the end of 2018 was 22 million euros per year, excluding bonuses. In 2019, a salary of 55 million dollars over two years (approximately 51 million euros, or 25.5 million euros per year) was reported for Ricciardo. There is no doubt that amidst the ongoing negotiations, the Spaniard will accept a salary cut to return to the premier discipline.
Alonso and Renault have in any case this in common: a fighting spirit and the desire to win again in Formula 1. Before the crazy week we are experiencing, Alonso had indicated that an announcement was planned “soon” for his 2021 program. Did he already know the context of Ricciardo and Sainz’s transfers? A tweet exchange between the French team and the driver this Wednesday certainly fuels the comeback hypothesis!
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) May 13, 2020
Next to Alonso, other names are circulating or are being considered to replace Ricciardo in 2021. However, these are more distant possibilities at the moment…
Vettel, just an illusion?
A change in philosophy will be required from the four-time world champion for a move to Renault. Also approached by McLaren, Sebastian Vettel reportedly rejected on Tuesday the idea of a three-year plan to make the Woking team successful.
No doubt Renault also tried its luck, but why would he accept a nearly identical project, not to mention a necessarily reduced salary (Vettel was earning between $41 and $45 million per year at Ferrari)?
Very attached to the history of Formula 1, Vettel knows Renault’s position as a factory constructor. But at 32, and after the struggles of the Ferrari era, the German is heading towards retirement or Mercedes… if the German constructor takes the gamble of fielding him in a world champion duo with Hamilton!
The Redemption of Hülkenberg?
Sidelined to make room for Esteban Ocon this year, the German is the most credible candidate: three seasons with Renault between 2017 and 2019. Naturally, Nico Hülkenberg knows the team’s engineers and mechanics. Being a free agent, his salary demands are certainly less steep than those of an Alonso or a Vettel.
If egos are set aside, Cyril Abiteboul will remember that it was with “the Hulk” that Renault made its impressive climb up the standings during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, achieving a sixth and especially a fourth place in the constructors’ championship. The former Williams/Force India driver is one of the key contributors to Renault’s first cycle.
Problem: by recalling Hülkenberg, the French team would be disavowing its policy initiated with Ricciardo, which aimed to attract a Grand Prix winner to lend credibility to the project. No matter, the German reiterated in a recent interview: he is still “hungry” to drive!
Unlike with Alonso, no Renault-Hülkenberg negotiations have leaked at the moment.
Bottas and the Frenchmen Gasly-Grosjean as outsiders?
The current Mercedes driver is not among the favorites, but why not? Under contract until the end of the season, Valtteri Bottas has already demonstrated his strength by winning 7 races with the Silver Arrows since 2017. His knowledge of the four-time world champion team is an asset, even as his seat is coveted by a certain Sebastian Vettel. If Renault hesitates, Valtteri Bottas could very well find himself on the market. But will the French manufacturer take the risk of waiting for the situation to unfold at Mercedes?
Next to Esteban Ocon, Renault can also take the gamble on another French driver! Pierre Gasly or Romain Grosjean offer different profiles. Grosjean has a good knowledge of Enstone, with a year at Renault in 2009 and four seasons at Lotus between 2012 and 2015.
On his side, Pierre Gasly demonstrated last year in Brazil that he could stand out, by securing a spectacular second place. It’s a way of saying that the Norman hasn’t lost any of his speed, despite a very complicated first part of the 2019 season, which cost him his place at Red Bull.
Gasly, like Grosjean, would also have the advantage of not demanding a high salary from Renault… if an offer were to be made to them!
Do the young drivers of the Renault Sport Academy have a chance?
A significantly less expensive option, the French team can also draw from its Renault Sport Academy pipeline, as confirmed by Cyril Abiteboul to Sky Sports F1: « the goal of our academy is to bring one of our talents to Formula 1 by 2021. » At the top of the list is the Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou, currently a test driver for the Renault F1 Team. The 20-year-old driver has completed a full season in Formula 2 with the UNI-Virtuosi team, marked by a pole position, 5 podiums, and an honorary title of best rookie.
Another bet, that of Christian Lundgaard (19 years old). The Dane arrives in Formula 2 after a season in Formula 3 that ended in sixth place (one victory).
But before hoping for a potential starting position, the two prospects will first need to achieve good results in their championships to obtain the Super License. In this list, it is hard not to think of Anthoine Hubert, who could have been a candidate for the second Renault seat starting from the 2021 season.
