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.<\/p>\n
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: \u201cNot at all, because my decision isn\u2019t based on this year\u2019s performance. We started this year on the wrong foot, and I can\u2019t make decisions for next year based on unrealistic performance. This doesn\u2019t reflect the team\u2019s true potential; the potential is much higher than what we see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alonso stated that the main determining factor in his decision would be whether F1 would make the current cars more enjoyable: \u2019My 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.\u201c<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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: \u2019With 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.\u201c<\/p>\n
The driver added that although he might only score one point in 2026, he hoped the Hungarian GP weekend would be a turning point: \u2019Budapest could be the first step; hopefully it will be a start to a comeback in the right direction.\u201c<\/p>\n