Fernando Alonso has once again been spotted behind the wheel of a rare sports car. The last couple of days have seen the two-time Formula 1 world champion driving an Audi Sport Quattro, rounding off what has looked less like a winter break and more like a lap of concours for the Spaniard.
The driver has been treating the principality as his shakedown lap, and while his contract extension keeps him racing for Aston Martin to at least the end of 2026, he's been very open to driving other brands, including a Mercedes CLK GTR.
He was spotted driving the German supercar in Monaco over the festive season. As a 622 horsepower homologation special with only 28 cars produced during its time, it didn't blend in. And valued at anything from $4million upwards, I'm not sure he wanted it to.
A few days later he was then spotted in an Aston Martin Valiant - a Q-built track-focused road car limited to just 38 units. Later in December, he picked up a new Aston Martin DBX S, a £210,000-plus purchase. And now, if we didn't think his garage was well-equipped before, he's proven he has serious taste by driving the rally homologation favourite around Monte Carlo.
Limited to just 214 units and powered by a turbocharged five-cylinder 2.1-litre engine, it produces 306hp and looks just as good as it sounds. It's quick, too. In the mid-1980s, this was considered supercar-quick, hitting 62mph in just 4.8 seconds thanks to the marque's impressive four-wheel drive system.
Audi built the car to satisfy FIA's homologation requirement of 200 production cars for Group B. It boasts a shorter wheelbase than the Ur-Quattro, and thanks to composite body panels, it was also lighter.
Whether the Audi was bought on a collector's whim or simply being borrowed by Alonso in Monaco, there's one thing we definitely know. The man has style.
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