During his interviews with journalists throughout the Belgian GP weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, Fernando Alonso made his F1 career future clear: Aston Martin's competitiveness in the remaining races, with his contract expiring at the end of the year, will not be a decisive factor in whether the 45-year-old Spanish driver will race next season.
The decision is based on the rules, not performance.
Two-time world champion Alonso reinforced his statements from Barcelona at Spa. When asked how the B-spec car from the Hungarian GP would affect his plans, his answer was definitive: “Not at all, because my decision isn’t based on this year’s performance. We started this year on the wrong foot, and I can’t make decisions for next year based on unrealistic performance. This doesn’t reflect the team’s true potential; the potential is much higher than what we see.”
Alonso stated that the main determining factor in his decision would be whether F1 would make the current cars more enjoyable: ’My decision for next year is more about the rules. Driving these cars on tracks like Spa today or Silverstone in the last race is not what I envision for my future. We'll see.“
Aston Martin's challenging start to 2026.
Alonso admitted the season was disappointing despite team owner Lawrence Stroll's significant investments aimed at capitalizing on the new rule cycle. Aston Martin had built a larger factory in the British motorsport valley, brought in Adrian Newey to lead the technical department, and secured Honda as their factory engine partner.
Once it became clear that the AMR26 was too heavy and unreliable, the team abandoned minor updates and essentially focused all its resources on a B-spec car. Alonso summarized the process as follows: ’With this rule set and Adrian joining the team, our expectations for Honda and similar developments were very high; however, we saw that those expectations were not met. It wasn't hard to see the car on Friday in Barcelona, it was disappointing. But the team accepted it as a challenge.“
The driver added that although he might only score one point in 2026, he hoped the Hungarian GP weekend would be a turning point: ’Budapest could be the first step; hopefully it will be a start to a comeback in the right direction.“