Fernando Alonso never thought about retirement while deciding his future, as he adds on how long he will drive whether in F1 or elsewhere.
Having given himself four races to decide, Alonso eventually made his decision to stay back in F1 and continue on with Aston Martin. While it is a deal which seemingly runs until 2026, but he can go beyond that whether as a racer and or in a different capacity.
Interestingly, in this period of decision making, Alonso never thought about retirement as if not F1, the Spaniard would have continued racing elsewhere. “Not really, I think it never went to my mind about retirement,” he said. “Above all, when I stop Formula 1, I think I’ll race elsewhere, maybe Dakar or something like that, so for me it is really difficult to really think about a life without a steering wheel in my hand.
“It will never happen or not in the short term. But no, I think I had 99% confidence that I’ll race next year, so retirement was not an option. I don’t know, I will drive for sure, let’s say I think it’s difficult to to really comment on it, because, I cannot predict when I will stop racing, or when I will retire from racing.
“It’s not gonna happen in 2025/26 because, as I said, I confirmed that one of the motivations was to enter the new regulations and to work with Honda, but I don’t know, let’s put it like that at least two more years. As I said, I will not go into the specific of how many years, but it’s a lot of years to come with Aston and to make some progress in all the areas, and when I’m racing I will do my best to win with this team, and to be competitive but I will feel the same.
“If we can achieve some great things and success even when I’m not driving. I can support the team to achieve great things even you know in a different role, so let’s see,” summed up Alonso, who has no certainty on how long he continues in this current contract. It is only F1 on his mind for now, but he knows he will back in Dakar at some point.
“Probably yes, but I don’t know when I’ll stop driving,” continued Alonso. “So, if I keep driving many, many, many years, so…I signed a contract that I’ll be on currently but if I stop a little bit earlier then the contract driving, I’ll be in a different role, yes. At the moment no, I am super focused on Formula 1 and that will be my only thing in my head.
“But yeah, I think I can nearly 100% say that I’ll try Dakar in the future when I stop Formula 1. That will be something that I still keep in my head and with Aston, we have the Valkyrie as well in Le Mans, starting next year, so yeah, who knows if that will be a project that I can help, somehow or driving or outside driving.
“I would love to see Aston Martin winning in any category in any condition and that will that will help the brand which I feel proud part of it. I feel part of Aston Martin Formula 1 team, but at the end of the day they are also about the road cars and everything. So, we want the best for for the brand,” summed up Alonso.
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