Windsor fears it will 'all come crashing down on Alonso'

Veteran F1 journalist and former Williams team manager Peter Windsor fears the love-fest between Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso will "all come crashing down" at some point.

Alonso decision last year to switch his allegiance from Alpine to Aston Martin left many pundits scratching their head and questioning the two-time world champion's motivations.

After all, at the time, the French outfit held a clear competitive edge over Team Silverstone. It therefore appeared that Alonso's move was a downgrade of sorts of his ambitions.

But so far, the Spaniard's choice has paid handsome dividends for team and driver, with four remarkable podiums and a fourth-place finish in the first five races of the season.

At 41, Alonso's years in F1 are clearly numbered, but the 32-time Grand Prix winner is determined to pull out the stops and, if possible, depart the sport with a bang.

So far, his Aston teammate Lance Stroll hasn't challenged Alonso's leadership although the Canadian has delivered a few good performances at the wheel of the team's efficient AMR23.

On multiple occasions, Alonso has praised Stroll, calling his teammate a "super talented" driver with world championship potential, while also claiming to prepare the 24-year-old to lead Aston Martin "for the next 10 to 15 years".

But Windsor, a keen observer and analyst of inner team workings in F1, believes that by singing Stroll's praises, Alonso – the political beast – is purposefully endearing himself to his team, not to mention to its owner, one Lawrence Stroll.

• Read also: Briatore explains why he encouraged Alonso to join Aston

However, the Briton fears the Spaniard's tactics will not end well in such a dynamic world like F1 where drivers can be friendly but where it's hard to be friends.

"I think he’s as good as anybody in race day," Windsor said in his Miami Grand Prix debrief on YouTube.

"I don’t think he’s as great a qualifier as four or five other guys out there at the moment but very, very good on race day.

"A very difficult driver politically to run in the team and you can see that already at Aston Martin, the way he’s over the top [with] comments about how good Lance is and helping Lance – none of which the true Alonso would really be interested in at all.

"You can see he’s just trying to build up a whole sort of ‘we love Fernando’ thing at Aston Martin and one day it’ll all come crashing down probably, knowing poor old Fernando.

"We’ll see how that goes [but] maybe it’ll work? Maybe the Stroll/Alonso tie-up is the strongest bond ever in the history of humanity…"

Windsor also suggested that Stroll's clumsy move on Alonso at last year's US Grand Prix that could have yielded dramatic consequences for both drivers can't be far off the Spaniard's mind.

"It’s getting a little bit over the top, I think, Fernando – all these comments about Lance all the time, ingratiating [himself], the Alonso side of the garage, the whole Stroll thing," he said.

"‘Who is Lance racing with? That was a great pass into Turn 1!’

"That’s a bit over the top, I think, bearing in mind Lance was the guy that took him out in Austin last year."

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