Aston Martin sends clear message amid Alonso to Alpine rumours

As Fernando Alonso weighs up whether to continue racing in Formula 1, Aston Martin has made its position clear: the team wants him to stay.

Alonso joined the Aston Martin project in 2023, with the team building towards this year’s new regulation cycle. But scoring just a solitary point in seven race weekends, Alonso is considering what comes next.

Fernando Alonso has a decision to make

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And he’s not just choosing between Aston Martin and retirement.

Paddock speculation has increasingly linked the double Renault world champion to his former team, now known as Alpine, which is once again under the leadership of Alonso’s manager Flavio Briatore.

Multiple sources have told PlanetF1.com that reuniting with Briatore for one last hurrah is a key consideration in Alonso’s thinking. However, it is far from a done deal.

“Sometime in the summer, I need to make a decision,” he told Sky Sports last month.

“At the moment I didn’t sit with myself to think about that. I never thought about it in a deep way, and I need to speak with my family as well. I need to speak with my people first and decide what to do next year.

“I’m very relaxed about it.”

Encouragingly for Alpine, he added: “I am also linked with this team, with this project. I want to succeed here behind the wheel or not behind the wheel. You will see me in the paddock even if I stop racing.”

And then came the Alpine rumours.

Aston Martin is hoping the double world champion will continue to spearhead the project next season, the team principal, Krack, happy with his driver line-up of Alonso and Lance Stroll.

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“You look back one or two seasons ago, we said clearly he’s here to stay,” Krack told PlanetF1.com and other media in Spielberg. “I think you know Fernando decided that around the summer break he will take a decision.

“We’re happy, we’re happy with the drivers.

“They are in this with us, and great credit to them how they deal with it.

“I mean, we spoke about this many, many times, that the drivers are the most affected, the most exposed to this, and the way they handle it. Hats off to the way they handle that.

“So I have great hopes that we continue to work together.”

Honda’s Shintaro Orihara put it simply: “Fernando should not retire, he’s too quick.”

Alonso scored Aston Martin’s only point of the championship at the Monaco Grand Prix when he brought his Honda-powered AMR26 home in tenth place.

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