Fernando Alonso’s pursuit of the third world championship which has eluded him for almost 20 years will further extend what is already the longest Formula 1 career of all time.
Soon after starting his second season at Aston Martin he agreed a new deal with the team which will keep him in the cockpit until 2026, when he turns 45 years old.
Few drivers in recent decades have raced into their forties. Alonso took the place of another multiple world champion, Sebastian Vettel, who left F1 at the age of 35. But Alonso said yesterday his mind “never went” to the possibility of retirement, and he plans to carry on racing in other series once he leaves the world championship.
“When I stop Formula 1 I will race elsewhere,” he told media including RaceFans. “Maybe Dakar or something like that.
“For me, it’s very difficult to really think about a life without a steering wheel in my hands. That will never happen, or not in the short term. I had 99% confidence that I will keep racing next year, so retirement was not an option.”
When the season began, following the news of Lewis Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari at the end of the year, Alonso responded to questions about his future by saying he intended to decide after the opening races. It didn’t take him long to make the decision.
“I needed a few races or a few weeks to really think about myself, if I was ready to commit for more years in Formula 1,” he said. “Because the calendars are just a little bit more intense now. The cars as well.
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“The commitments, my love for Formula 1 and my love for Aston Martin didn’t change. But I just wanted this time to really speak with myself and make the decision and the commitment.
“Obviously Formula 1 takes all time, all your energy. You have to give up basically everything in life to keep racing. And I wanted just to speak with myself if I was ready to do so.”
In 2022 Alpine paid the price for dithering over whether to extend Alonso’s contract and Aston Martin pounced. He delivered eight podium trophies for them last year and scored almost three-quarters of their points, so it’s hardly a surprise the team was eager to keep him on board.
“Once I took the decision – I think it was after Australia or something like that – I sat with Aston, which again is exactly the same as what I said in February that will be my first priority. And it was not too difficult.
“I think we both wanted the same. I wanted to keep racing with Aston Martin. Aston Martin wanted also to keep me in the seat. So when two parties want something, at one point you reach an agreement.”
Hamilton’s move, and persistent rumours Max Verstappen may cut short his long deal to drive for Red Bull, have created the possibility of widespread disruption on the driver market. But the possibility of Alonso joining Mercedes always seemed remote due to the history between the two, as team principal Toto Wolff said seven years ago.
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Alonso admitted he “did speak with other people as well” but said those talks never looked likely to amount to much.
“It’s normal when you when you enter negotiations, you need to balance a little bit what is the market. You need to listen to everyone else as well. It’s just a normal procedure and I think is fair as well to listen to all the proposals and to see how the market moves.
“But in my head Aston was the logical thing for me to do and at the end it was also the best and I felt the most wanted in Aston Martin. All the other conversations were just light and never came into any conclusions or something like that. Maybe more time was needed or this kind of things. While in Aston, it was a clear desire to work together, which was the same that I had, so that’s why it came very easy.”
An “important point” in Alonso’s decision to re-sign for Aston Martin was the longer-team deal they were prepared to offer. “To commit to a one year project didn’t make sense for me,” he said. “It’s not that I had one-year proposal elsewhere or anything like that. It was just I was very clear to Aston in the first conversations that the appealing part of this project is everything that we are building.”
The team is beginning to see the benefits of the investment owner Lawrence Stroll has made to develop their facilities and transform them into championship contenders. Alonso believes that, and the partnerships it has with the likes of Honda and Aramco, stand it in good stead for the future.
“It was the new campus last year, it’s going to be the wind tunnel this year,” he said. “It’s going to be the new regulations in 2026 and Honda coming as a partner.
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“That was for me a must to really enter new regulations with a new project, with a new wind tunnel and also with Honda as a partner. It was something for me that was very, very important.
“Part of the decision to stay at Aston is because they are with Honda. But for 2026 it is [also] because they are with Aramco, the biggest and the best partner in the world. We have incredible talented people in the team now, in the technical side that will benefit from the new wind tunnel and the new facilities in Silverstone. So there were a lot of factors that made ’26 very appealing with Aston and that was a theme.”
His new deal will keep him racing in F1 until at least 2026, potentially longer, and Alonso indicated it will keep him connected to the team after he hangs up his helmet.
“It’s not only ’26, it’s a lifetime project in away for me. This is the longest contract I ever signed in my career. So this is something that will give me a link 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 experience in Formula 1 plus another 10 or 15 outside Formula 1, so nearly 40 years motorsport experience, in the benefit of a team that gave me this opportunity now in this moment in my career. So this is also very appealing for me and I am extremely motivated for the next years to come.”
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