- Alonso refuses to retire from F1 despite Aston Martin’s worst-ever start.
- Honda’s vibrating power unit has left Alonso losing feeling in hands and feet.
- A car too broken to compete may be why Alonso races into a 24th F1 season.
Fernando Alonso says he is not ready to leave Formula 1, signalling that he wants to continue racing beyond the end of his current Aston Martin contract in 2026.
The 43-time podium finisher made the comments at the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco, telling Sky Sports:
“At the moment, I don’t feel it’s that time yet. I feel competitive, I feel motivated, I feel happy when I drive. So, yeah, hopefully not the last season.”
The 44-year-old’s contract with Aston Martin expires at the end of this year. He had previously suggested 2026 could be his final campaign, but his latest remarks point clearly in the other direction.
A nightmare start to the new era
The backdrop to those comments is one of the worst starts to a season in recent F1 history.
Aston Martin arrived in 2026 with what looked like a strong hand. A car conceived by Adrian Newey, backed by Lawrence Stroll’s considerable resources, and powered by a works Honda engine.
The combination drew genuine excitement from across the paddock.
That excitement has since curdled. Aston Martin has failed to score a point in any of the first three race weekends.
Alonso’s 18th-place finish in Japan stands as the only time either of their cars has completed a full race. Team-mate Lance Stroll has fared no better.
The core problem is reliability. Honda’s power unit has suffered severe vibration issues that have stopped the AMR26 from completing enough laps to even begin addressing performance.
The situation has escalated beyond mechanical inconvenience. ESPN reported that Alonso was losing feeling in his hands and feet before he retired from the Chinese Grand Prix on lap 33.
Aston Martin has publicly acknowledged the risk of permanent nerve damage to both drivers.
An F1 insider has suggested the vibrations may trace back to a layout request Newey made to Honda early in the project.
He reportedly asked the manufacturer to shorten the power unit by double-stacking the battery and electronics, and by moving the MGU-K ahead of the engine rather than behind it.
The aim was to free up space for aerodynamic gain. The outcome, sources suggest, has introduced mechanical complications that Honda has yet to resolve.
Forty-one years behind the wheel
Alonso’s response to all of this has been telling. Rather than distance himself from the sport, he has leaned further into it.
At Monaco, he framed his career not in terms of statistics, but in terms of time.
“I love what I do. I love racing,” he told Sky Sports.
“I did my first race when I was three years (old), and I am 44, so 41 years of my life I have been behind a steering wheel. So the moment I have to stop racing, it will be very hard decision and difficult to accept.”
The numbers that sit behind those 41 years are considerable. Across 23 seasons, Alonso has made 428 Grand Prix starts, taken 32 wins, claimed 22 pole positions and finished on the podium 106 times.
He won back-to-back world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006, ending Michael Schumacher’s run of dominance. His last race victory came at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.
In 2022, he broke the record for most F1 starts. In 2024, he became the first driver to contest 400 Grands Prix.
Away from F1, he has won the FIA World Endurance Championship and two 24 Hours of Le Mans titles with Toyota.
Completing motorsport’s Triple Crown by winning the Indianapolis 500 remains a stated ambition.
His personal life also shifted significantly this year. In March, days before the Japanese Grand Prix, Alonso became a father for the first time. His partner, journalist Melissa Jimenez, gave birth to their child.
Why leaving now makes little sense
For Alonso, walking away at the end of a season like this would mean finishing on terms he never chose. Reports from The i Paper suggest he is unwilling to do that.
He reportedly wants to help Aston Martin recover and leave the sport on his own terms, rather than as a passenger in someone else’s collapse.
He said as much at the end of last year. Speaking to Motorsport.com, he acknowledged that a poor season could extend his time in the sport rather than end it:
“I know it’s my last chance. If the car is weak, I might go one more year just to end on a positive note. If the car is strong, 2026 will probably be my last year.”
Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell has not closed the door on a new deal. Speaking via Grandprix.com, Cowell framed the decision as a shared one:
“We have a clear goal of creating stronger race cars year after year, and Fernando and any driver always want to be in the best car.”
The team also faces a practical question. Replacing a two-time world champion mid-project, with the car yet to show its true potential, is not a straightforward task.
Keeping Alonso through the recovery may be as much a necessity as a choice.
The road ahead for Aston Martin and Alonso
Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle has called Aston Martin’s 2026 campaign a “horror show.”
Fellow commentator David Croft has suggested a significant upgrade may not arrive until the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa later in the summer.
There are some grounds for patience. Newey has said the chassis has genuine underlying potential.
Honda, meanwhile, is expected to benefit from the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities regulations, which grant struggling manufacturers extra room to develop their power units mid-season.
Whether any of that materialises in time to salvage 2026 remains unclear. What seems clearer is that Alonso intends to be there to find out, and to still be there in 2027 if the answer disappoints him again.
Formula 1’s next round is the Miami Grand Prix Sprint weekend, scheduled for May 1-3.
