Fernando Alonso confirms his stay at Aston Martin F1, dispelling rumors of a switch to Red Bull and reinforcing his commitment to the team beyond 2025 with a multi-year deal.
Aston Martin F1 issued a very brief statement confirming the news: Fernando Alonso will continue to drive for the Silverstone team in 2025 and beyond. The Spaniard was rumored to possibly move to Red Bull if Max Verstappen were to leave the world champion team.
“I am here to stay.” With this simple sentence from Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin confirmed that the Spaniard will race a third season in green next year, and likely more with a multi-year contract keeping him long-term.
It is known that the Spaniard is still considering his future under the upcoming Formula 1 regulations in 2026, but he will remain in place for several years. Does this mean that Max Verstappen has ultimately decided to stay with Red Bull?
Indeed, Alonso’s potential move to Milton Keynes was contingent on the possibility of a transfer of the Dutch triple world champion. It remains to be seen what this will mean for Lance Stroll, who is increasingly out of favor at his team, but also for Carlos Sainz, who could have considered Aston Martin as one of his options.
“Securing Fernando’s long-term future with Aston Martin Aramco is great news. We have built a strong working relationship over the last 18 months and share the same determination to see this project succeed,” said team principal Mike Krack.
“We have been in constant dialogue over the past few months, and Fernando has been true to his word when he decided he wanted to continue racing, he first spoke to us. Fernando has shown that he believes in us, and we believe in him.”
And Krack confirmed that Alonso also plans to tackle the new regulations with his team: “Fernando is hungry for success, he is driving better than ever, he is fitter than ever, and he is fully committed to making Aston Martin Aramco a competitive force.”
“This multi-year agreement with Fernando takes us through to 2026, when we will begin our partnership with Honda. We look forward to creating more incredible memories and achieving new successes together.”
My love for F1 and Aston Martin remains unchanged
At the start of the year, during the unveiling of the AMR24, Fernando Alonso stated that his priority was to stay with Aston Martin F1 in the future. That hasn’t changed after four races, and the Spaniard has signed a multi-year contract extension with the British team, which he explains today.
“It was easy. I think it hasn’t changed much from what we said in February about the car launch,” Alonso remarked. “I needed a few races or a few weeks to really think, to decide if I was ready to commit to more years in Formula 1.”
“Because the schedules are a bit more intense now, the car as well, and the commitments. My love for Formula 1 and my love for Aston Martin haven’t changed, but I just wanted to take the time to make the decision and commit.”
“Formula 1 takes all your time, all your energy. You have to give up almost everything in life to continue racing, and I just wanted to talk with myself to see if I was ready to do that.”
Aston Martin wanted him “more”
The two-time champion had talks with other teams. Red Bull and Mercedes wanted him, but not as much as Aston Martin, he says: “You have to evaluate everything. You need to see what the market is like. You also have to listen to others. It’s a normal procedure and I think it’s fair to listen to all the offers and see how the market evolves.”
“In my mind, staying with Aston was the logical thing to do and, in the end, it was also the best. It’s at Aston Martin where I felt most wanted. All other conversations were just preliminary, and I never drew any conclusions or anything like that.”
The desire to continue working together with the team was immediately confirmed: “Maybe it took more time for those kinds of things, whereas at Aston, there was a clear desire to work together that matched my own, and that’s why it happened very easily.”
“Once I made the decision, I think it was after Australia, something like that, I sat down with Aston, which is exactly the same thing I said in February, it was my priority, and it wasn’t too difficult.”
“We both wanted the same thing. I wanted to continue racing with Aston Martin, and Aston Martin also wanted to keep me in that seat. When two parties want something, eventually, an agreement is reached.”
“It couldn’t be the end of the journey.”
Alonso couldn’t imagine leaving a team that had made significant progress over the past few months: “So, I am very excited to continue racing with this team, where I feel at home. It’s also a sense of loyalty that I wanted to express to my team.”
“A year and a half ago, we started together and we have accomplished so much, some of which are probably unprecedented in Formula 1, to reach so many heights in such a short time. I felt that this was just the beginning of the journey. It couldn’t be the end of the adventure for me and Aston Martin.”
“I’m super happy, excited, also for the people at the factory, for the staff, for our partners, we have great partners in the team. We are very proud of them, of all our sponsors. I felt it was a natural decision to make, to continue racing and to continue racing with Aston Martin, it was very easy.”
Alonso confirms that he will drive for several more years at Aston Martin, and that he will stay beyond that: “This is somewhat the project of a lifetime for me, it’s the longest contract I’ve ever signed in my career. It’s something that will allow me to stay connected to Aston for many years. We’ll see in what role and how many years I will still drive.”
“But even after I’ve driven, I will leverage more than 25 years of experience in Formula 1, plus another 10 or 15 years outside of F1, nearly 40 years of experience in motorsports to benefit a team that gave me this opportunity at this point in my career. So it’s very appealing to me and I’m extremely motivated for the coming years.”
Why a multi-year contract?
Alonso was asked about the need to commit long-term and why he didn’t seek a one-year contract: “It was an important point, I’m not going to lie. Committing to a one-year project made no sense to me.”
“It’s not that I had a one-year proposal elsewhere or anything of that sort—it’s just that I was very clear with Aston from the early conversations: the attractive part of this project is simply everything we are building.”
“For me, it was necessary to enter new rules with a new project. If I decided to stay at Aston, it’s partly because they are with Honda for 2026, but also because they are with Aramco, the biggest and best partner in the world.”
“We have incredible and talented people on the team, from a technical standpoint, who will benefit from the new wind tunnel and new facilities at Silverstone. Many factors made the year 2026 very appealing for Aston.”
Official: Alonso Stays with Aston Martin F1 Beyond 2025. Official: Alonso Stays with Aston Martin F1 Beyond 2025. formula 1 2024 alonso Official Alonso Stays with Aston Martin F1 Beyond 2025
- Following us on Facebook and Twitter
- ReadMore>Ted Toleman, founder of the Toleman F1 team has passed away
