The Enstone-based team were on the brink of a new deal with the two-time world champion before the Spaniard made a shock call to join Aston Martin earlier this week.
One of the key factors behind Alonso’s decision to move teams was that Aston Martin was prepared to offer him a much longer-term commitment – believed to be up to three years, including options.
However, Alpine was only willing to commit to a one-plus-one deal as it wanted some flexibility in case Alonso’s speed showed signs of waning.
While Alonso, who is 41, believes such concern is unfounded as he says he is still showing no signs of a dip in form, Alpine insists there is a point coming when things really turn around.
Reflecting on what Alpine is willing to offer Alonso, team boss Ottmar Schaffnauer said age cannot be dismissed and so he wants to protect himself.
“It’s hard to predict the future,” Safnauer explained. “I always say that if I could predict the future, I wouldn’t be here. I would be in Vegas.
“We offered a one-plus-one deal. And Fernando and I discussed this: look, if next year at this time you perform at the same level, of course we will take you. And this could go on.
“But I think he wanted more certainty, regardless of the performance: I want to stay for longer. And I think that was the essence of one plus one as opposed to two plus one or three plus one or three years.”
Ottmar Schaffnauer, Team Principal, Alpine F1, Pat Fry
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Schaffnauer said that even the greatest drivers like Michael Schumacher were not as good at the end of their careers as they were when they started.
“There comes a point where something happens physiologically to the driver and you don’t have the same ability you had when you were younger,” he said.
“I think it happened with Michael. I think it’s fair to say that Michael Schumacher at 42 was not the same driver he was at 32 or 35. And it happens to other athletes too.
“For cricketers, it is not such a physically demanding sport. It’s all about hand-eye coordination, moving the club the right millimeters so you make the save [the stumps].
“But after 32, 33 or 34, the best batsman in the world can’t do that anymore. And that’s because something happens to them. And it happens to race car drivers too.
“So we were in favor of: yes, if you’re performing at a high level, we’ll certainly keep you. But let’s do it for a year and I think he wanted a longer duration.
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Safnauer also denied suggestions that Alonso did not take kindly to his plans to join Alpine’s LMDh program at a time when he still felt he had much more to offer F1.
Speaking about this project, Safnauer said: “We had conversations with Fernando as well as Laurent [Rossi, Alpine CEO]. Sincerely, when you finish in F1 we’d love for you to move on with the family and go do other races with Alpine. So it wasn’t really a surprise to Fernando because he agreed to do this and thought it was a good idea.
“The question was, well, when is that going to happen? But when that happened, going into Le Mans, he was absolutely happy to continue on that path.”
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