Is Fernando Alonso Cooler Than James Bond Now?

Photo: Qian Jun/MB Media (Getty Images)

For those of us of a certain age — people whose formative years happened between 1960 and 2021 — there’s a very specific way that Aston Martin cars look. Sleek, silver, that sort of oval-ish grille — the image that shows up in Bond film after Bond film, which seemingly inspired every single road-going Aston ever sold. The people want to look like Pierce Brosnan.

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Or, at least, they did. On a recent trip out to Aston Martin’s New York location, I was informed that Bond silver is no longer the most desirable color for folks ordering their new cars. Instead, people are now looking for green — Formula One green. This begs the question: Is Fernando Alonso, in the public consciousness, cooler than James Bond?

This greenPhoto: Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu (Getty Images)

The conditions are right for a switch. “Drive to Survive” boosted the visibility of Formula 1 in the states, and the sport appears to be having a bit of a renaissance with regard to popularity. People are into F1, and Aston’s got one of the best liveries in the game.

On the flipside, Bond is flagging. The Craig-era films remade the character as a more realistic and down-to-earth spy in the vein of “Bourne,” which sucks and is boring. The “Bourne” movies already exist. If I want a grounded, gritty spy action film, I’ll watch those. If I’m tuning into Bond, I want to see Pierce Brosnan melt an ice hotel with a space laser while being chased by a Jaguar armed with rockets.

So F1 is getting more popular as bond gets more boring. It seems, in the public eye, Fernando Alonso could well eclipse 007 in popularity — this paint color popularity switchup from Aston may just be the first leading indicator.

Or, people rich enough to order Astons might just be bored of monochrome cars. That’s an option too, I guess.