Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso has clarified that he wants to be “the owner of my destiny” when it comes to deciding on his Formula 1 future beyond the end of 2024.
Despite now being 42, Alonso has continued to be one of the strongest drivers on the current grid and bagged eight podiums in his debut campaign with Aston Martin.
However, Alonso has entered the final season of his current contract with the team and has conceded that he must weigh up whether he wishes to remain in the sport.
The Spaniard hasn’t been victorious in F1 since May 2013, and he revealed earlier this month that an extension would be dependent on the potential to win races again.
Asked about the timeline for an outcome, Alonso said: “I said now in summer when I spoke to the TVs! So I can gain a few months of not answering the same question!
“It didn’t change much, and it will not change in the next few weeks or races. I don’t want to wait maybe until the summer, because I think that will be unfair for me and the team, if they have to find more options or things like that. But I don’t want to rush as well, and make a decision while my head is not into next year.
“As I said now, my head is so focused now on the things I would love to test on the car after the learnings of the first few events, everything is so exciting about the performance, if I need to think about next year, it’s like, ah, this is not the right time now to think.”
The two-time champion has been linked with a switch to Mercedes in the circumstance where it desires an experienced name to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.
Meanwhile, the tension at Red Bull since the completed investigation into Christian Horner has seen Alonso touted as an option should Max Verstappen opt to depart.
But Alonso has insisted that he will not wait for further dominoes to fall in the F1 driver market before determining where he ends up from a racing standpoint in 2025.
“I’ve been always that way. Sometimes it did help me, sometimes it hurt me to be my own, the owner of my destiny,” he addressed.
“I chose when to go from a team, when to join a team. I chose when to stop Formula 1. And I chose when to come back.
“And now I will choose what I do next year. I will not follow what others do, and they dictate my destiny. I will do it on my own, for good or for bad, it’s the way that I am.”
Aston Martin has opened the latest season at the tail end of the group aiming to close on the dominant Red Bull side, who have taken consecutive 1-2 finishes to date.
Following a tough race in Bahrain, Alonso was able to convert fourth on the grid in Saudi Arabia into a fifth-place finish, beating both Mercedes drivers in the process.
While Mercedes had been encouraged from the initial assessment of its revised car, the German marque has since divulged that the W15 has a “fundamental” issue.
When it was put to him that remaining with Aston Martin might be a better option than pursuing the vacant Mercedes seat for 2025, Alonso replied: “Yeah, I do not want to comment because whatever I say could be taken wrongly. I prefer not to comment until I make further decision to continue.
“As I said at the launch of the car, when I make that decision the first office that I go will be Aston Martin office. That will be my priority.
“My loyalty to them… I’m thankful for the opportunity they gave me two years ago. And if we get to an agreement that will be the decision, if I keep racing and we get to an agreement.
“If we do not get an agreement with Aston I will look elsewhere, but that will be [a] second opportunity.”
Alonso denied the notion that wanting to possess outright control over his future is something that has been developed through age and experience in the top flight.
“When I was young I won the first World Championship [in 2005] and I signed with McLaren, and we announced one year before moving there,” he highlighted.
“I was 24, so. It didn’t change with age. It was always like that.
“Formula One for me was not a priority, I was racing in go-karts and thought I would be a go-kart mechanic all my life. Formula One seemed not really appealing for me. It was too high, I was like not at that level or status. I was just a normal guy from the north of Spain, which seems nothing really to do with Formula One.
“I enjoy motorsport in general and driving any car. Carcross, Dakar rally, Endurance, IndyCar. Formula One is just the top of motorsport and these fantastic cars and you learn so much from the people that work here, they are so clever, they are so professional, and everything is fantastic. It’s quite addictive.
“I still do not consider myself into this environment, I’m much more normal than this high class.”
Discussion about this post