‘Only one champion available’ - Alonso on his place in F1's driver market

‘Only one champion available’ – Alonso on his place in F1’s driver market

Fernando Alonso believes he occupies a “unique” position in a Formula 1 driver market blown open by Lewis Hamilton’s shock signing for Ferrari from 2025.

“There are only three world champions on the grid and there is only one available,” remarked the two-time title winner, who is one of 14 drivers currently out of contract at the end of this season.

The Aston Martin driver was speaking on the eve of the launch of their new AMR24 car for the double world champion’s second season at the team, and a remarkable 21st on the grid, as the Silverstone-based outfit target another step forward in performance after making big strides forward this time last year.

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Alonso detailed the thought-process that he will go through when he comes to evaluate his F1 future beyond 2024 over the coming months.

He said that the first step would be deciding whether he wanted to continue racing in the sport and that then, should he opt to continue, Aston Martin would be his sole “priority” for contract discussions.

“I know the driver market has started earlier this year than probably June or July, which is the normal timing, but this will not affect me at all in terms of preparing the season good enough,” said Alonso.

“Because it’s so limited [the build-up to the new season] I cannot think too much about the future right now, I will have to wait a few races.

“I am aware of my situation, which is very unique. There are only three world champions on the grid – and fast world champions, because in the past maybe there were some world champions but they were not so committed to be fast – and I am probably the only one available for ’25 so I have a good position.

“But, at the same time, when I make the decision if I want to keep racing or not for the future first and only talk that I will have at the beginning is with Aston Martin because that will be my only one priority.”

Seven-time champion Hamilton, who has signed a multi-year deal at Ferrari, and reigning triple champion Max Verstappen, whose Red Bull contract runs to 2028, are the other two title winners on the current grid.

Alonso did suggest that his performances from last season, when he finished fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and claimed an impressive eight podium finishes after a big jump in form from Aston Martin, meant he was “probably attractive to other teams” on the look out for drivers in 2025.

His name has inevitably already been linked with the seat that Hamilton will vacate at Mercedes at the end of the year but Alonso said there had been no contact between him and the Brackley team since news of the Briton’s unexpected Ferrari switch broke earlier this month.

“Nothing at all,” said Alonso.

How Alonso will decide whether to continue in F1

Alonso said the results from his winter physical fitness tests were “best ever this year” and that he headed into the new season, which starts in Bahrain live on Sky Sports F1 on February 29-March 2, feeling “fitter than ever”.

“Everything I do in life and everything I did in the last few months was just to prepare myself better than ever for a very long season and to prepare myself also in case I want to keep driving, being better than ever,” he said.

“So if I commit to a project in the future for the next year or the next few years, I need to be first ready myself to commit to that. I will not drive a few more years in Formula 1 just to drive and to have fun. I’m not that kind of driver, I’m not that kind of person.

“If I want to keep driving it’s because I know starting from myself that I can give 200 per cent to the team on and off track, simulator work, marketing work, delivering the results on track. So I am preparing for that in the eventuality that I want to keep racing and, if I want to keep racing, let’s see what the options are.

“My first priority will be always to sit down and discuss with Aston. They gave me the opportunity last year to join this organisation, which I’m very proud to be part of. With the new factory, with everything that is going on, there is a great future in this team and I want to explore every possibility to race for many years here.”

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Alonso, who stepped away from F1 for two seasons in 2019-2020 to compete in other categories and won the World Endurance Championship with Toyota, added: “I’ve been driving all over winter different cars: DTM car, car-cross, rally car, go-kart. 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 having more time for my private life which is also very important at this age.

“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 per cent of my time.

“Once I do that decision I want to sit with Aston Martin and say ‘ok, I made this decision and I would love to continue in 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, and we have everything to succeed for the future and I trust this project’. So that will be my first priority when I say 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 am probably attractive to other teams – the performance they saw last year, the commitment – and, as I said, there are only three world champions on the grid and there is only one available.”

Alonso on Hamilton’s ‘surprise’ Ferrari switch and ‘childhood dream’ comment

Like seemingly everyone else in F1, Alonso had not seen Hamilton’s seismic Ferrari switch coming.

“I didn’t spend too much time [thinking about it], I was training actually that day, so I missed all the stress from everybody, so I was just one day late on the news,” he said.

“Probably it was a surprise, I will not lie, but not because of the change itself, it was probably just because from the outside it seemed like he was very linked with Mercedes and very loyal to them and things like that. It was a little bit unexpected but I don’t know the reasons behind it.”

Alonso won 11 races for Ferrari and twice fell agonisingly short of winning the world title for F1’s most famous team across a five-season spell at Maranello between 2010 and 2014.

Asked what advice he had for Hamilton ahead of a switch that the Briton has said will realise “another childhood dream”, Alonso replied: “I don’t know. It was not his child[hood] dream 12 months ago or two months ago, I guess, because he was [having] a different dream.

“But nothing really to comment, I hope he enjoys the experience. It’s a very special team but it is more special when you win.

“That’s the thing, you need to win, and it’s a few years already that they have a very fast car and they were fighting for big things and maybe Lewis can bring that extra [ingredient] to fight for the championship.

“The car is there. At the end of last year even with a very dominating Red Bull car, Ferrari were still able to match the lap time and be faster than them in most of the qualifyings. So I think the car should be fast enough.”

What can Aston Martin achieve in 2024?

“We have to be optimistic at this part of the season,” said Alonso.

“We saw last year as well Ferrari finished really strong and achieved a few pole positions in the last part of the year. McLaren also did a huge step during the season and got close to Red Bull in a few races. So let’s see what happens.

“I think we have to be regularly in the points first, fighting for podiums, or be a contender for podiums, as we did last year and then if we are in that position it would be lovely to achieve the first victory in green for Aston Martin and, hopefully, I can be behind the wheel that moment.

“But we have to go step by step, it’s going to be very tight. There are four or five teams who will be within two or three tenths of a second this year I bet so that will put you within two-tenths of a second of fighting for podiums or fighting out of the top 10, so we need to be really focused on that.”

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Aston Martin’s 2024 F1 car was revealed on Monday