Former Brawn GP and Mercedes CEO Nick Fry has revealed that Fernando Alonso turned down the opportunity to join Honda in 2008 and thus missed out on racing for Brawn GP in 2009, their championship winning year, and also squandered an opportunity to be part of the Mercedes team that emerged thereafter.
Speaking at the SinLimites Management and Business Summit (MABS) in Spain, Fry said, “Fernando Alonso should have been driving for Nick Fry and Ross Brawn in 2009. If he did, he would be four times world champion today.”
“Fernando Alonso could be one of the lost talents. If he had made better decisions, he would have done much better,” added Fry.
After a fractious 2007 year at McLaren, Alonso was on the market ahead of the 2008 season and decided to return to Renault with whom he won his two world titles in 2005 and 2006.
In 2008 Brawn was intent on turning Honda into a force in Formula 1 and Alonso was top of his shopping list.
During the Belgian Grand Prix, that year, it was clear that Honda had made an offer for Alonso’s services, Brawn said at the time, “We’re just waiting [on Fernando]. My view is that he’s the best at the moment and we’re happy to wait and hope that he makes a positive decision for us.”
“I think he’s the best driver in F1 because of his balance of experience and ability. There are three very quick drivers who have established themselves so far in F1. There’s Lewis Hamilton, there’s Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando.”
“If you look at those three for a team in our position, where we have a strong rebuilding process going on, then we need a driver with strong development capacity, experience and absolute speed. Fernando has all of those things,” added Brawn.
History shows that Alonso, who at the time was managed by Renault chief Flavio Briatore, turned down Brawn’s offer and decided to stay with the French team where he remained until the end of 2009 before moving to Ferrari.
Honda famously departed the sport at the end of 2008, at which point the F1 operation was sold to Brawn and it thus morphed into Brawn GP with Mercedes engines replacing Honda power. Brawn emerged with a controlling 54% stake in the ‘new’ team and Fry getting 31% of the shares.
After Alonso’s rebuff, they signed Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello to spearhead the team’s 2009 campaign, with Button winning the world championship and the team claiming the constructors’ title that year.
In 2010 Mercedes took over Brawn’s operation to form the team that his since become the most powerful force in the sport’s current era, with which Lewis Hamilton has won two F1 world championships and Nico Rosberg bagged one title.
For Alonso it was another case of making a wrong decision in his Formula 1 career.
Big Question: Has Fernando’s career been plagued with bad luck or bad decision making?
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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