Fernando Alonso says he will see how the opening rounds of the 2024 F1 season play out before he decides on his future in the sport.
As the only world champion on the grid without a contract for next year, Alonso has been tipped as a potential replacement for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. However the 42-year-old said the opening races will be key to whether he will continue competing at all.
“First of all, I need to decide if I want to keep racing – that would be the first thing that I need to decide in a few weeks, or in a few races’ time,” he said.
“I feel great now, but I know it’s a demanding calendar. In 2026, there are a different set of regulations as well which maybe are tempting or maybe not – I don’t know. But let’s see. As I said at the car launch, I will wait for few races to decide.”
The 42-year-old is the oldest driver on the grid and Formula 1’s most experienced ever racer. He is due to start his 400th grand prix later this year.
Aston Martin surprised many in the paddock in Bahrain last season by finishing closest to the dominant Red Bulls. Alonso insists that it is impossible to accurately judge the performance of Aston Martin or any of the ten teams based on the results of this weekend’s season opener.
“Let’s wait a couple of races. I think even Bahrain is a very specific track in terms of characteristics. So we will have to go through Saudi Arabia, Australia – maybe even Japan – to really have an order between the performance of the teams.
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“But I think the car is a step forward – which is the first goal for winter testing – compared to last year. Everything has delivered as expected. Maybe our step between last year and this year is good enough or not good enough – we will find out, as I said, in the first couple of races.”
Besides producing a more consistently competitive car this year, Alonso says Aston Martin needs to continue improving as a team to become world championship contenders.
“What I see in the team is a different approach than 2023, when we started with a good baseline and it was a shock for us, maybe, how good it was at the beginning. Then we were not a big team also off-track, in terms of developing the car and things like that. We learned a lot of lessons last year.
“So in the way of becoming a contender for the championship in the future, I think it was an important season for Aston Martin. I think in 2024, we start with a good…
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