Fernando Alonso nearing crucial decision on F1

Fernando Alonso has explained that he is facing a crossroads in his life as he evaluates whether or not he wants to continue in F1.

Alonso may be a free agent on the driver market for the 2025 season, but the Spaniard has explained that a first step for him will simply be deciding whether or not he wants to carry on racing in Formula 1 beyond this season, before chatting with teams about contracts.

Fernando Alonso admits private life importance as 2025 decision looms
As the eldest driver on the grid – Alonso turns 43 this summer – the Spaniard has had incredible longevity in F1 after making his debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix.

Some prime seats are unconfirmed for next season, such as Lewis Hamilton’s cockpit at Mercedes, an unconfirmed cockpit at Red Bull as Sergio Perez’s deal comes to an end, while Aston Martin themselves have made it clear they’d like Alonso to remain with them for next year.

But, first of all, Alonso has got to decide whether or not he wants to continue in Formula 1 and keep having to dig deep within himself for the ever-increasing demand of the lengthening F1 calendar.

“First of all, I need to decide myself what I want to do for the future,” he said when asked about what he’d like to do next season.

“If I want to commit my life, again, for a few more years to this sport, which I love.

“But I love driving, I’ve been driving all over winter, different cars, DTM, rallycross, rally car, go-kart itself.

“I love Formula 1, but generally, I love driving.

“So if it’s not Formula 1, I will find myself happy in any other form of motorsport, and maybe have more time for my private life, which is also very important at this age.”

Until he’s made this decision, Alonso said he won’t be chatting with any teams, but his first priority will be to converse with Aston Martin about whether or not they can reach an agreement to continue.

But this is a decision that I need to do with myself, I need to think and I need to commit to a team eventually, and make sure that I understand that the next few years of my life, it will be that team and 100 percent of my time,” he said.

“Once I do that decision, I want to sit with Aston Martin and say, ‘OK, I make this decision. And I would love to continue with this project’.

“Because I think we did a good step forward in the last year. We built a lot of things together. We have this new facility here. We have everything to succeed for the future, and I trust this project.

“So that will be my first priority when I say that I want to speak first with Aston Martin, because I feel part of this project very much.

“But, if we cannot reach an agreement and I want to commit to race in Formula 1, I know that I have a privileged position.

“I’m probably attractive to other teams, the performance that they saw last year, the commitment, and as I said, you know there are only three World Champions on the grid. And there is only one available.”