The move has come as a surprise within F1 - and is a blow to Alpine, where Alonso has been outperforming team-mate Estasban Ocon this season, although he is behind the Frenchman in the championship as a result of a series of reliability problems.
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The word in F1 is that there had been a hitch in negotiations between Alpine and Alonso over the length of his contract, with the driver wanting a firm two-year deal and the team preferring an option clause after next season. Aston Martin wanted Vettel to stay and had offered him a contract for next season, but they had also had informal exploratory chats with Alonso in case the four-time champion wanted to stop.
When Vettel made his decision, Aston Martin moved quickly. The likelihood is that Alonso has signed a two- or three-year deal with options after each year that give him more certainty than he was being offered by Alpine.
On the face of it, the move is a backwards step in terms of performance for Alonso, as Alpine are well ahead of Aston Martin this season.
But Alonso's self-confidence will assure him that he can add significant performance to the car, and he has noted the string of senior hires the team have made in recent times, including recruiting former Red Bull head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows as technical director.
Next year's car will have Fallows' fingerprints on it as he joined the team earlier this year, in time to feed into development.
Aston are also building a state-of-the-art new factory at their Silverstone base. The design and race team will move into the first stage of it by the spring of next year, before two further buildings, including a wind tunnel, come on stream later. ...
