Fernando Alonso returns to the scene of his 32nd and - as it stands at least - final F1 victory.&nbꦕ🐼sp;

Alonso overtook fellow F1 champions Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton around the outside of Turn 3 on the o♎pening lap of the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix before making the most of an aggressive four-stop strategy to secure his second career victory in Barcelona.

In the subsequent seasons to his last win in 2013, Alonso has on🔯ly stood on the podium on three occasions with a ♎torrid stint with McLaren combined with Alpine’s current underperformance leaving the two-time champion battling in the midfield.

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𒉰Despite his lack of outright success, Alonso remains one of F1’s most respected and highly-rated talents. 

Even at 40, Alonso is one of the best wheel-to-wheel racers on the grid with his aggressi𝄹ve driving style still making him a fan favourite. 

Given ꦬhis age and Alpine’s current lack of competitiveness, and their inability to make a jump forward from the midfield into the top three, Alonso would be within his rights to question his future.

Howeveꦏr, despite not having a race-winning car, Alonso remains as hungr🅠y and committed as ever. 

Alpine have🐻 the choice of retaining the Spaniard or promoti🏅ng highly-rated youngster Oscar Piastri for 2023 but if Alonso wants to continue, then surely it's a no-brainer for the French team.

In an interview with the BBC, Alonso confirmed that he wants 🐻to coไntinue in F1 beyond 2022.

“We [with Alpine] didn't talk officially,” Alonso said. "We just had a couple of coffees. But, yeah, I think the possibility will be there. The motivatꦍion is still there to win and to close that gap [to the front] even if we know how extremely difficult it is going to be.

“We know there are a couple of things we can do. This first year of theꦇ new regulations you learn a lot from other cars and other philosophies, so there are a lot of shortcuts in performance you can find very easily. Next year or the next two years I would love to continue and keep driving because I feel at my best right now and it would be wrong to watch F1 from home and from the living room while I still feel 100% of my abilities.

“When I feel it is not tha🍃t way, I will be the first to raise my hand and stop because F1 is very demanding; you have to sacrifice a lot of things in life to keep racing. But at the moment it is still worth do🐽ing it.”

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer indicated that discussions would begin at the British Grand Prix in 🔯July with the French outfit keen to find Piastri a drive somewhere on the grid.

There has been speculation that Williams could decide to replace Nicholas Latifi, who continue🤡s to struggle alongside Alex Albon, midway through the yeꦛar but no decision has yet been made by the Grove outfit. 

The alternative to Alpine

One rumour that💖 continues to remain is linking Alonso with a move🥃 to Aston Martin.

According to F1-Insider, Aston Martin owne🌌r Lawrence Stroll is a big admirer of Alonso and he’d be his first choice to replace Sebastian Vettel, should he retire from F1 at the end of the yearꦏ.

Vettel has often expressed his dissatisfactio꧒n about racing in the midfield rather than contending for grand prix victories, leading to the questions about how long the four-time champion has left in F1.

Aston Martin have once again struggled so far this year with their 🍸2022 challenger considerably overweight. 

However, for Alonso, the appeal that Aston Martin would have oཧver Alpine is tricky to under💃stand.

Alonso has an affiliation with Alpine given that they are effectively Renau🐓lt and are housed at Enstone.

The Spaniard won both of his titles with the Enstone outfit back in 200🌞5 and 2006, before a second spell with the team♑ in 2008 and 2009.

Alpin🍃e are also a works outfit while Aston Martin r⭕ely on Mercedes for their power unit. 

A change of scenery could be what Alonso wants but a move to Aston Martin for 2023 will likely just be a sidewards step as the Silverstone-based team shows no signs of returning to ⛦their Racing Point form of 2020.

20 points behind Ocon

I🍌f you looked at the drivers’ championship after five rounds you’d be right to think Alonso was ‘past it’ given that he tra🐼ils teammate Esteban Ocon by 20 points. 

It’s the complete opposite with the poཧints table not showing the full story.

Not taking anything away from Ocon’s start to the year, the Frenchman has been ultra-consistent, although ha🎶s lacked Alonso’s outright spe♉ed.

Alonso was on for at least sixth at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix before an engine failure ended his day prematurely, while ano꧙ther technical issue robbed him of 𓆉one of the best qualifying laps of the year as he was on course to claim provisional pole position in Melbourne.

The race didn’t work out for Alonso as the strategy didn’t work out at Albert Park, and then he was on the wrong end of lady luck at Imola when Mick Schumacher damaged his sidepod and forced him out of 🅠the ra🐼ce prematurely. 

The good thing for Alonso🍨 is that his raw pace and performance seem to be there and regular points finishes are inevitable. 

Will Alonso stay?

Alonso remains hungry to succeed in F1 and while th🃏at third drivers’ title will probably continue to allude him, he still remains motivated.

Other than Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari - all of which have their own stꦍar drivers - Alonso would be an asset and a great signing for any team.

There’s no doubt Alonso will remain on the grid for ♓2023 bu🐻t where?

For Alpine, keeping Alonso makes the most sense. While Piastri is young and exciting, placing him elsewhere to grow a𓄧nd prosper beforehand would be an ideal situation but would it be possible given Williams will be wanting to develop their own driver, not another team’s.

Aston Martin would only be a sideways step but the Silverstone team ha𒊎ve a better track record in recent years compared to Alpine, particularly before the rebrand in 2021.

Regaꦬrdless, don’t expect this weekend to be Alonso’s final home race in F1.