Feb.10 (GMM) Fernando Alonso insists time is still on his side as he approaches his 45th birthday, despite 2026 marking the final year of his current Aston Martin contract and a wide-open driver market expected for 2027.
Asked whether experience will be an advantage in Formula 1’s radically new era, Fernando Alonso argued that age can be a strength in modern grand prix racing.
“Because it’s over-regulated, there would be more differences if there were more freedom,” he said. “But experience always helps. If this were tennis or athletics, I’d rather be 25 than 40. But in motorsports, if you’re physically fit, I prefer 40 to 25.”
Alonso believes the complexity of the 2026 rules – particularly around energy management – plays directly into veteran hands.
“I’ve raced on every circuit, I know many different sets of regulations,” he explained. “With the energy changes that are coming, I’d rather be in my position than be a rookie this year.”
Using a football analogy to describe his career timeline, Alonso dismissed suggestions that he is in “stoppage time”.
“There’s still a long way to go,” he smiled. “We’re starting the second half – 45 minutes.”
When pressed on when he might decide whether to race beyond 2026, Alonso made it clear he wants to delay any call as long as possible.
“I think this year we have to wait a little longer because the progression and evolution of the cars is going to be incredible,” he said. “Instead of improving by one or two tenths with an upgrade package, perhaps we’ll improve by eight tenths or a full second.”
That uncertainty, he said, makes early decisions risky. “Making a decision in April or May could be right or wrong in September. It depends on how the developments go. The longer we can wait, the better – that would be my intention.”
Alonso admitted, however, that performance alone will not decide his future.
“I have to see how I feel, how motivated I am, how much the travel, the events, the marketing and everything else off the track is affecting me,” he said. “I think the team is going to improve a lot from the beginning of the year, and that’s going to be motivating.”
But he also acknowledged the pressure teams face in planning ahead. “What you want is one thing,” Alonso said, “but if the team wants to know in the spring whether you’re going to continue or not so they don’t run out of options, I’ll be under pressure to decide earlier.”
On the driving itself, Alonso remains sceptical that the 2026 rules will give drivers more freedom.
“I already had doubts after doing some laps in the simulator, and I still have the same doubts,” he said. “I think overtaking is going to be more difficult this year because everyone has DRS on the straights. The car behind has the same DRS as the one in front.”
With energy use tightly controlled, Alonso fears battles could become more artificial. “You only have a little more energy, but you don’t have the freedom to use it wherever you want. It’s dictated by the FIA. It’s over-regulated.”
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