"There could easily be fireworks as he joins the Stroll family firm"- Fernando Alonso will push Aston Martin 'very hard,' feels F1 pundit

Martin Brundle feels that Fernando Alonso's move to Aston Martin could easily lead to excitement within the team as he would push them very hard. Speaking about the situation in his weekly column on SkySports, Brundle said:

"Fernando is a force of nature on and off the track and he will push the team very hard. He's mellowed a little these days but there could easily be fireworks as he joins the Stroll family 'firm'."

According to Brundle, one of the factors that played a role in Fernando Alonso choosing Aston Martin was the team's willingness to give him a long contract.

"The timing of [Vettel's] video retirement declaration made even more sense when Fernando Alonso was surprisingly announced as taking his seat on Monday morning. It appears that Alpine couldn't or wouldn't offer Alonso a two-year deal, and his Aston Martin deal is officially described as multi-year."

"He's also been fairly underwhelmed at how punchy his teammate, Esteban Ocon, has been towards him in combat at Alpine rather than turning all their guns on their rivals."

Felipe Massa found Fernando Alonso's decision to join Aston Martin a bit strange

Fernando Alonso's former teammate, Felipe Massa, is also not entirely sure of what to make of the Spaniard's move to Aston Martin. The Brazilian driver also touched on how the team would gain a lot from having Fernando Alonso in the ranks. However, it's not entirely clear what kind of gains the driver will get from the team.

“I think, first of all, Fernando is an amazing driver. I had the chance to be teammates with him [for] a long time in Ferrari. I learned a lot with him, so he is in my view, one of the best drivers in Formula 1."

“It was a little bit strange to hear the decision from him to sign with Aston Martin, to be honest. I think Aston Martin has a lot to gain with Fernando there. Don’t know if Fernando has a lot to gain by being there with Aston Martin, in my view."

The Brazilian driver also touched on how Alonso needs to have a competitive car to show what he can do in the sport. At some point, scraping away at the bottom of the barrel isn't going to interest him.

“The most important thing for Fernando is to have a competitive car in order to show what he is able to [do]. But I don’t think, if things stay the way it is now, Fernando fighting for tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth positions - this, I don’t think will be really interesting for him.”

Alonso will be on a multi-year contract with the team. However, it hasn't been revealed what the total length of the deal will be and what clauses would be included.