Alonso sets up driver management agency

Fernando Alonso is branching into the world of race driver management.

The two-time world champion already has a kart circuit, museum, academy and karting team in his native Asturias, but he has now told Spanish media that he is launching ’A14 Management’.

It will be a driver management agency to help drivers "achieve their goals through physical training, advice on decision-making and financial management" and more.

"The intention is to select a small group of drivers and instil in them the essential values to achieve their goals with the support of the best team with extensive experience in motorsports," Alonso, 40, said.

In making the announcement, he was asked by reporters to comment on speculation that Renault-owned team Alpine’s ’El Plan’ strategy for 2022 and beyond may be seriously behind its targets.

Alonso insists that rather than being worried, he is actually upbeat.

"It has to be a good year," he said. "Part of ’El Plan’ is to get a little bit excited, which is sorely lacking.

"After the pandemic, and now what we are seeing these days in Ukraine, we have to learn to live happily with what we have now.

"That’s El Plan - to learn to live happily in the present."