18/04/2024
NEWS STORY
"Proud and happy" with his new contract at Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso hopes the 2026 regulations will offer new opportunities.
While he may be the last of the true racers, Alonso has always carried a certain amount of baggage with him. In a sport where there is no room for sentimentality - certainly if you are to be a champion - the Spaniard has at times proved ruthless, both on and off the track. Also, while he might say one thing, he very often means something entirely different.
Earlier this year he was claiming that he might race until he was fifty, only to say, just a few weeks later, that he was unsure if he would continue for much longer.
Then, exactly a week ago, Aston Martin confirmed that he had agreed a new contract which will keep him at the Silverstone-based outfit until the end of 2026.
Linked with both Mercedes and Red Bull - though the aforesaid baggage almost certainly ruled him out of both teams - it makes sense for Alonso to remain with a team that has clear ambitions and the resources to achieve them.
"It's never an easy time when you have to make some decisions, especially right now for me it's probably my last contract," he told reporters in Shanghai today, "so I wanted to make sure that it was the right decision first of all to keep racing in Formula 1, and to have the strength and the motivation to keep racing for a few more years from my side.
"And then after that just making sure that the team has the target and the goal for the next few years to be ambitious and to try to keep getting better and better," he added. "It was a very happy decision for me, I'm obviously extremely proud to represent Aston Martin for the next few years. We started the journey last year in a very good way and we keep on working, so I'm extremely proud and happy, and let's see what we can do."
Other than confidence in team owner Lawrence Stroll and the technical team he is assembling, the 2026 rules overhaul offers Alonso added confidence.
"The new regulations in 2026 are going to be a possibility for everyone to mix the cars a little bit and have an opportunity," he said. "Obviously we will be with Honda, we will be the only team with the power unit from Honda which obviously is a little bit different from being a customer engine now with Mercedes, so hopefully we have a little bit of an improvement there.
"Also I think with Aramco, the biofuels and the sustainability that will come into 2026, we have a little bit of an opportunity there as well, and the team is just getting better and better... new facilities, new campus, new wind tunnel coming this summer, so there are a lot of things in place to be a very powerful team in the future and I wanted to be a part of it."
Having admitted that he did talk to other teams, Alonso insists that deep down he felt there was only one real option and denies that he made the decision in order to get his future tied down rather than wait and see.
"We just sat together after Japan and we arrived to a conclusion, and an agreement was reached in one or two days, so it was very, very simple. Once we got the agreement, we announced it.
"Everything is a little bit more simple than what it looks from outside," he continued. "There are a lot of rumours, a lot of things going on for different teams and different drivers and deadlines here, deadlines there. For us we were just loyal to each other, we just kept our word, and once we signed it and we agreed on something we announced it, so for us it was much more simple than maybe for other people."
While Stroll senior signs the pay cheques, there remains the little matter of Stroll junior, who has been largely outshone since the Spaniard arrived.
However, while some argue that Aston Martin needs a stronger driver to support the Spaniard, Alonso says this isn't so and insists he has faith in his teammate.
"Lance and myself, we are trying to help the team as much as we can," he said. "I think we have two different driving styles in some conditions, we have two different feelings with the car. I think Lance is a lot more sensitive to things than what I am, which is very important for the team.
"I think the analysis that Lance can reach and can feedback to the team is crucial to us and to improve the car," he added. "I'm a little bit un-sensitive to things sometimes and this is not a good thing.
"We are both trying to help Aston as much as we can and I think the direction that we develop the car and we normally finalise the set-ups on a weekend and it's exactly the same.
"So, we arrive at the same conclusions, maybe in a different way, and I think those two different styles are just a good thing for Aston."
Admitting that he tends to "drive around" issues with the car, he said: "Sometimes a good thing because I can drive any car at any moment and extract 90% of it. But to reach 100% of the potential of the car, sometimes I'm not able to do without the help from my team-mate on special details on the set-up or balance problems here and there. So, I think we benefit from each other in many different ways and this is a good thing at the moment."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Shanghai here.