Fernando Alonso goes in-depth about his decision to stay with Aston Martin and extend his F1 career signing a long-term deal with Honda talks and more.
Having wanted time to think if he wishes to stay in F1 and with Aston Martin, Alonso eventually made his mind in the positive on both accounts. He has signed a multi-year deal which runs until 2026 at the very least, where he has the option to extent.
In fact, he hasn’t termed a fix one yet and it seemingly goes beyond his driving capacity. Whenever he decides to stop, Alonso is most likely to remain with the team in some capacity. He has made some changes as well to accommodate some family time.
His main question was not racing but mostly if his body can handle F1 and the travel. Having some few races, he thinks it is possible and the next step was if the team is competitive enough, which yearned him a positive result as well.
He is excited about the Honda partnership and terms them as the best at the moment in F1 which will be the case in the time to come too. Despite his bitter time with the Japanese manufacturer, it is now in the past with a new relationship from 2026 onward.
Alonso opens up well about racing being his life when speaking to media post the Aston Martin announcement. He spoke to other teams but he didn’t wanted as much as he did with the British outfit, which made the decision a bit easier too.
Here’s part of what Alonso said –
Easy decision or how it came about –
Alonso: “No, nothing changed. It was easy. I think it didn’t change much from when we spoke in February on the car launch. I needed a few races or a few weeks to really think, if I was ready to commit for more years in Formula 1, because the calendars are just a little bit more intense now, the cars as well, the commitment. 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 your 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. Once I took that 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 would be my first priority.
“It was not too difficult, I think we both wanted the same, I wanted to keep racing with Aston Martin but also to keep me on the seat. When two parties want something, at one point you reach an agreement. So, I’m extremely excited to keep racing and to keep racing with this team, which I feel at home. It was also a sense of loyalty that I wanted to express to my team one year and a half ago. We started together and we achieved so many things, some of them probably unprecedented in Formula 1 to reach so many highs in such a short period of time. I felt this is just the beginning of the journey, it could not be the end of the journey for me and Aston Martin. Super, super happy, excited, also for the people at the factory, for the staff, for our partners. We have great partners in the team, so proud of them as well, all our sponsors. It feels that it was my natural decision to keep racing and to keep racing with Aston Martin.”
Other teams and eventual to Aston Martin –
Alonso: “I did speak with other people as well, yes. I think it’s normal when you enter negotiations, you need to balance a little bit what is the market, you need to listen to everyone else as well, because it’s just a normal procedure and I think it’s fair as well to listen to all the proposals and to see how. the market moves. But I don’t know, in my head, Aston Martin was the logical thing for me to do and at the end, he was also the best and the most, I felt the most wanted in Aston Martin. All the other conversations were just light and I never came to any conclusions or something like that and maybe more time was needed, all these 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.”
Long-term idea and not for shot haul –
Alonso: “Yeah, it was an important point, I will not lie. I think to commit to a one-year project, it didn’t make sense for me. It’s not that I had a one-year proposal elsewhere or anything like that. I was very clear to Aston in the first conversations that the appealing part of this project is just everything that we are building. It was the new campus last year, it’s going to be the wind tunnel this year, it could be the new regulations in 2026 and Honda coming as a partner and I think that was for me a must. I think to really enter a new regulation 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 for 2026, is because they are with Aramco, the biggest and the best partner in the world.
“We have incredible talented people in the team now on 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 2026 very appealing with Aston. That was a theme, but it’s not only 2026, it’s a lifetime project in a way for me. This is the longest contract I ever signed in my career. So, 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 experience in Formula 1 plus another 10 or 15 outside Formula 1, so nearly 40 years of 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’m extremely motivated for the next years to come.”
Honda’s contribution and importance –
Alonso: “Yeah, Honda is definitely a manufacturer that has so much success in Formula 1, and not Formula 1 in the world of motorsport. That is always a company that I respected, a company that it didn’t work for us in McLaren in the years that they came to the sport but right after that they fixed all the problems and they are currently dominating the sport and they’ve been world champions for the last few years. So I think they will have a baseline for 2026 that is already very strong but also they have the capacity in Sakura of building something really nice. I visited Sakura in 2014, 2015, 2016 and I didn’t visit yet at the moment, but I know that they are really really motivated there.
“And obviously with the sustainable fuels that we will have in 2026 this is something that also I would love to experiment. We have, as I said before, with ARAMCO, a great partner. So, yeah I see a win-win situation and I respect a lot of the Japanese culture as you all know probably. We just came from Japan, special race, always a special helmet when I race in Japan, samurai tattoo on my back so there are a lot of links always with Japan and this 2026, yeah it is appealing and hopefully after the experience with McLaren Honda and the IndyCar, as well we have now this opportunity to work again together that for me is a true pleasure.”
Important to get this out of the way –
Alonso: “Yeah, it will be nice in China when I get to the press conference, and let’s see which type of questions. I have now but yeah I mean I was a little bit aside and I don’t know when I said I think it was in Jeddah that I said you know I know it’s a little bit of movement here and there and rumours for everybody but I’m a little bit outside of that I will make a decision you know when it’s time to make a decision I will not rush because there are pressures here or there. I will not wait to you know, see if there is something happening there and then I can jump in or whatever you know I will be the I will dictate my destiny.
“You know, for good or for bad, but I will do whatever I feel is best at my timing not at the timings that no one will dictate so yeah after three or four races, as I said always, I made a decision to keep on racing ready to sacrifice a few more years of my life on normal things, but I’m happy to keep traveling. I feel fresh, I feel physically at the top, I feel motivated, and once I made that decision it was very easy, as I said to arrive to a deal with Aston Martin, and we announced it today but, without looking at what the rumours or all the people are doing or which kind of deadlines you know teams or drivers they have you we dictate our own pace.”
Spoken to which teams and still Aston Martin –
Alonso: “Yeah, I mean I will not be on the specific on which, teams I spoke because, I think this is not any more important now and I think it’s a day for Aston Martin and the day for good news for Aston, but yeah, I think it’s a normal conversation that you have the same for teams when they are you know searching for a driver they touch everyone you have to know their position and their contract situation, even if they are not super interested. They always want to to know everything, and for me it was the same, but without any clear targets and first priority was Aston. And, for the for the commitment, yes, it is true, I will be 45 or more and keep racing.
“If one day I feel that I’m not motivated or if one day I feel the race not in good shape or I feel that I’m not fast you know maybe I go to one period of the season that I feel not fast and I feel not really sharp into the things of the race itself or qualifying or wherever. I think I have a relationship with Aston very honest and I will be the first one to raise my hand and say you know I have maybe lost here or there, and you know, we will find solutions, but I don’t see that coming for the next few years, as I said in Japan probably one of my best races ever maybe happened just five days ago, so I think I’m feeling good I’m feeling strong so I don’t see any problem there. Lewis will turn 40-years next year in January, so at least I’ll be not the only one 40+ that you’ll talk, maybe there more drivers.”
Questions on mind before commitment to F1 –
Alonso: “Well, I had a few things first of all it was not a racing factor. It was more the traveling to be honest – looking at this calendar, I was a little bit afraid that this will be heavy on me there are all the commitments pre-season with all the photo shooting, video shooting, car launch, all these kind of things are quite demanding in terms of energy for drivers in general and for me particularly in this part of my career. So, I said let me go through that tough period that I call it at the beginning of the year of marketing and media and things like that and then that tough period of traveling time zones, big planes and these kind of things. If I feel that, you know, I’m not enjoying what I’m doing I think it’s better to not keep racing. If I go through that period of the year and I love racing and all the rest is not heavy on me, I want to continue why not and that was the first thing that I wanted to clarify with myself in the first couple of races.
“Then secondly, obviously, I wanted to see how we perform you know there is no guarantee that you know, if I feel good and I see with Aston that things are not going right we have a car that is difficult to drive we are not competitive I see no progress in the team. I see some negative sides, maybe I look elsewhere, but to be honest. Yeah, we didn’t start on the podium position yes okay, but I think we are very close the top four teams apart of Red Bull there’s going to be some races that we are more competitive some races that we are less but also in the first four races, we introduced four new parts of the car every race. We had an upgrade so this is something that was quite encouraging and quite nice to see so I think the team is doing progress. It’s never quick enough in Formula One, this is a very demanding sport, very demanding environment, but 22 months ago, we had a very small building ex-Jordan factory, and now we are half a tenth up and down with Ferrari with Mercedes with top teams. So this kind of progress is is really what I think in this project, it’s all the ambition of this project is is just something else so I want to be part of it.”
How you arrived at decision after so many thoughts and that it is correct one –
Alonso: “I will never be 100%, sure. I felt that I love driving too much, and that I cannot stop at the moment. I think the sacrifices that you have to make are smaller than the joy of driving, and the passion that I have for driving. So, I breathe Formula One, I live Formula One, I train to be fit to drive Formula One cars, I eat to be fit to drive Formula One cars, and it didn’t arrive the moment that I felt I need to change the lifestyle, my lifestyle is great and I love what I do. I will not be happy sitting on the couch at home and watching Formula One races, because at the moment I still feel that I should be there because I can do a little bit better here, better there or I can be faster.
“So that moment didn’t arrive yet, and my biggest concern or the bad side of driving is just missing my family and not having a normal life, or my own family at that one point or whatever but on this regard, I said okay, let’s see year by year month by month – I spoke with my family they will come also more often to races. All of them are coming to Miami now, my mother, my sister, my two nieces. We decide and we plan to make some changes also for the things that I miss or the things that maybe worries me, to keep racing to not miss those things and I think we we all arrive on into that conclusion.”
Spoken to Honda –
Alonso: “I saw them, not in Suzuka, a few months ago, and as I said. I have great love for Japan and for the things that they do there. I think the the level of discipline, and the level of commitments that they have is just in another level generally in Japan, but it translates to Honda. I worked with Toyota, as well in the endurance championship, and I’m very familiar to that kind of discipline. I think 2026 is we are going into the unknown, for sure. In terms of regulations, but if I have to choose one by feeling. I will choose our project and our engine and our power unit. One because, I think they are dominating the sport, as I said, they have a very, very strong engine with Red Bull and AlphaTauri (Visa Cash App RB). Secondly, because you know with the new fuels, the new regulations. They will have all the tools available to succeed and this is how I feel.”
Here’s news of Fernando Alonso extending
Here’s Lance Stroll on his frustration
Here’s Fernando Alonso on his late race tactics
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact