Fernando Alonso lives caged by the limitations of the car he currently drives and with the concern of knowing if it will still be sharp in two years, when the new technical regulations of Formula 1 come into play. His contract, until the end of 2026, is so contemplate; It will be necessary to see if his reflections do justice to that commitment. It will be then when Aston Martin puts on the track the first prototype that will have been born from the pencil strokes of Adrian Newey, the most influential engineer in modern history, who a few months ago announced his departure from Red Bull – with them he can celebrate his eighth title—to join the manufacturer that gave the cars to James Bond. If the secret agent with a license to kill served in his day to give shine to the British brand, the promotion of the most extreme edge of the company is championed by Alonso, however paradoxical it may seem when it comes to the most veteran member of the current grill. At 43 years old, the Spaniard faces this Sunday, in Mexico (at 10:00 p.m., Dazn) his 400th Grand Prix in the World Championship, a figure that places him, by far, as the most experienced driver ever; He is accompanied on that podium of honor by Kimi Raikkonen (353, now retired) and Lewis Hamilton (351, still active).
In addition to the two world titles (2005 and 2006), achieved when Renault had enough power to question the hegemony of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher; the 32 victories, the 106 podiums, the 22 pole position and the 26 fastest laps that appear on the Asturian’s service record, perhaps the most surprising of all is his longevity in an ecosystem as competitive and hostile as F1: Alonso has participated in more than a third (36%) of the total of the championship events (1120), which he started at Silverstone in 1950. Since that Australian Grand Prix of 2001, in which he made his debut riding a Minardi, the man from Oviedo has been accumulating kilometers (around 108,000 in the race) and turns (almost 73,000), many more than you would have ever imagined. “When I won the second World Cup, in 2006, I signed a three-year contract with McLaren. At that time I was 99% sure that 2009 would be my last year in F1. “That was the plan that was very clear in my head,” Alonso acknowledges in the podcast. Beyond the grid.
The plan that the two-time champion had in his head at that time was not fulfilled even in its first chapter. He only spent one year at McLaren after meeting Lewis Hamilton, the new sensation, there. Then came two more years under the shelter of Renault (2008 and 2009), a bittersweet five years with Ferrari (2010-2014) and another return, to McLaren (2015), which ended like the rosary of dawn and with a first retirement ( 2019 and 2020). In more or less the same way he concluded his return with Alpine (2021 and 2022), before Lawrence Stroll convinced him to join the Aston Martin project (2023), with whom this year he signed the renewal for at least two more. seasons.
The contact with the structure of the racing cars could not have been more fruitful, with eight podiums and a final fourth position that did not have continuity this year: it appears ninth in the general table and its best result is the fifth place achieved in Saudi Arabia , the second stop on the calendar. If we take into account that 2025 should be a transition, Alonso and Aston Martin have their sights set on 2026, with the hope that the shake-up in the regulations and the influence of Newey will lead to a great revolution. As explained by Alonso himself, who is known in the paddocklike him Fatherhe himself tempted the engineer as soon as he found out that he was free, through a message. “I had his phone number and I sent him a message letting him know that it would be an honor to work with him,” reveals Alonso, aware that the benefits of incorporating the aerodynamics guru may go to someone younger: “Obviously, I would like to win with the wheel in my hands, but I also think I would enjoy it if I am not the one driving.”
