Formula One Legend Alonso Speaks On Retirement Plans
Formula One legend Fernando Alonso has revealed that the new 2026 Formula 1 car will determine his decision to retire or to stay in the sport.
The 2026 season will see a major change in the sport with new car regulations that are set to shake up the pecking order.
The 44-year-old earned his first points of the season in Spain with a ninth-placed finish, and his contract with Aston Martin is set to run out at the end of 2026.
Alonso confirmed that the new change in operations will play a major role in his retirement decision.
He said, “It will be a very important one, yes. Not the final one.
“I think I need to see how next year starts and how motivated I am. Every year, there is a different mood in the season.
“There is a different feeling about how you perform, how competitive you feel yourself, how motivated you are to keep your fitness at a high level, your personal situation, and your family situation – all these things play a role in some important decisions in life.”
Alonso took a break from Formula One for three seasons in 2018, and he enjoyed eight podium finishes in 2023. He said he needs to be sure of his decision before retiring.
He said, “You need to feel it when it’s time, and I don’t feel it yet. I jump in the car and I’m on the grid, and I’m just so happy to be there and motivated and performing well.
“At the end of the day, the stopwatch will tell me also when I have to stop. Or I have a physical condition that is bad, or I have pain driving or whatever; that could happen as well.
“Sometimes you get a little bit injured; you get some bad races. But if we keep it healthy and in good condition, the stopwatch also will tell me one day that I don’t feel fast enough or I don’t feel that I can put the lap together. But so far, I’m happy with that.
“I’m happy when I’m on the grid. When I finish the race on Sunday, even if the results are not nice at the moment, I’m so motivated to go to the next race and try to overcome the bad race and have a better one.
“So all these kinds of things are very alive now, but there is no guarantee that this will be forever.”
He finished ninth at the Spanish Grand Prix last Sunday.
Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers’ Championship titles, which he won in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, and has won 32 Grands Prix across 22 seasons.
In endurance racing, Alonso won the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship and is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota.
Alonso is the only driver to have won both the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship and the World Sportscar/World Endurance Drivers’ Championship
.
He has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit and has been inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame twice.
Formula One Legend Alonso Speaks On Retirement Plans is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
