Fernando Alonso turns 45 next July in what will be the final season of his current Aston Martin contract, though the Spaniard has yet to make a final decision on his long-term future
Formula 1 drivers are, for the most part, essentially mercenaries – hired to race a car as fast as they can. The best ones go where the quickest cars are in spite of any loyalties they may have. Just look at what Max Verstappen’s manager said about the Dutchman walking away from Red Bull next year if they are not competitive.
Fernando Alonso’s time in F1 is littered with team changes, many of which have infamously not worked out in his favour. Aged 44, he is undoubtedly in the twilight of that remarkable career and, although his personal ambition to succeed is definitely still there, it is no longer a selfish desire. As his latest interview proves, this particularly battle-scarred warrior has finally committed to ending his previously nomadic racing life.
How do we know this? Because he is adamant that Aston Martin will become F1 champions in the future. Whether or not he is still one of their drivers when that happens, he says, is immaterial. All he is interested in is playing his part in their rise.
“It’s not about me now”, he said, perhaps resigned to ending his F1 career with just the two drivers’ titles that came 20 years ago, despite the promise of so many more. “I don’t need to keep racing. I’m just here to help Aston Martin become World champions, whether that’s with me behind the wheel or without me behind the wheel. That’s the main purpose of this second chapter of my career.”
When did Alonso come make this commitment? You would assume it was around the time he signed his current Aston Martin contract, which was announced in April 2024. He said a few days after that was confirmed publicly that it was “probably his last contract”, which runs until the end of next year in terms of his driving duties.
But most interesting was what he said the new deal meant for his association with the team in the long term, referring to it as a “lifetime project”. Alonso said at the time: “This is the longest contract I ever signed in my career.
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“This is something that will keep me linked with Aston for many, many years to come. Let’s see which role, let’s see how many more years I will drive, but even after driving, I will use 25-plus years of experience in F1, plus another 10 or 15 outside of F1, so nearly 40 years motorsport experience to the benefit of the team.”
When Alonso won back-to-back titles with Renault, as the youngest racer ever to become F1 champion at the time, it seemed only a matter of when rather than if he would add to those successes. But the emergence of Lewis Hamilton at the same time as he switched to McLaren, and a successful but ultimately frustrating period with Ferrari, where he finished as runner-up three times, plus some other team changes that just didn’t work out, have left Alonso with a sense of what might have been.
Most drivers in his position would surely stick around, even beyond their 45th birthday, if given a competitive car in 2026 capable of winning races and maybe the championship. Alonso, of course, hopes that will be the case and would dearly love to win the title again after all this time. Yet, he says a strong Aston Martin next year would make him more likely to retire, not less.
“Let’s say that if we are competitive, there is more chance that I stop. If we are not competitive, it will be very hard to give up without trying again,” he said. Those are the words not of a driver still prioritising personal ambition, but of one who is clearly determined to use the limited time he has left to make what might perhaps be an even more significant impact on the sport.
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