Prior to the 2026 F1 Malaysia weekend, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso spoke on Thursday in a print media session about continuing in the sport into 2027. Next year will be his fifth season in the green colours.
Alonso’s extension talks were “brief” and “straightforward”
Alonso recently signed an extension with the team along with his teammate Lance Stroll, confirming that he will remain competing in the sport. He emphasised the desire to remain competing in Formula 1, stating that talks with owner Lawrence Stroll regarding an extension were brief. It will be his 25th campaign in it since making his debut with Minardi in 2001.
”Yeah, it was quite recent, and sitting with Lawrence [Stroll] was very straightforward, we didn’t have much to discuss, we both wanted to continue at that point, and it was a five-minute talk and we announced it.”
Alonso stated that while it’s extremely difficult knowing his Aston Martin has not been regularly competitive to fight for points, going racing and solely focusing on that is enough for him to generate the motivation required.
”It is different, obviously we are not competitive on the weekends. So yeah, you try to be as professional as you can in the preparation and on the way into the race weekend, but I think it would be different if we were fighting for podiums or wins. But we still do our job, our pre-weekend approach, studies about the circuits, simulations, all these kind of things, but knowing that the result will be not very competitive, so that’s not helping. The motivation, as you said, at the end of the day, we close the visor, we go racing and that’s enough.”
Alonso “motivated” for improvement in 2027 with Aston Martin F1
In the past, Alonso briefly spoke regarding Aston Martin’s plans for 2027 before signing the extension, and what motivated him to do so considering the results he and the team have achieved. The Spaniard currently sits 19th in the championship standings with only 3 points tallied.
The two-time World Champion has been the most vocal about the engine regulations in 2026 alongside Max Verstappen. That was also a big part of whether he would stay on for 2027.
In the end, the motivation to continue racing and not become a full-time former racing driver armchair analyst again as of yet.
”I have no guarantees that 27 will be more fun, but it is a commitment that you have to make with yourself. At the end of the day, I feel fast, I feel motivated, I feel that I’m enjoying what I’m doing, and if I’m sitting at home watching TV, watching races, I will feel that I can do better than them. That’s what I felt in a way when I was away from F1 [in 2019 and 2020], I was watching races and I was thinking, ‘wow, that was not right, this, this, that.’
”I don’t know, I was always feeling the fire inside of being there and trying to do better, and I still feel it now. Until I have that inside, I think it’s not time to stop. So yes, the decision was more about the rules, how enjoyable it is to drive these cars and these rules.”
