Alonso Elaborates On Conversations He Had With Other Teams Before Signing With Aston Martin

Friday, 12 April 2024 at 18:00

Fernando Alonso discussed his conversations with other teams and why he finally chose to stay with Aston Martin, at least until 2026.

The double world champion Fernando Alonso is no longer part of the driver market as he secured a contract extension with Aston Martin.

It is supposed to be a "multi-year" deal that will take Alonso with the team into new regulations in 2026. Although he might have potentially had other options, even at top teams like Red Bull or Mercedes, he decided to stay faithful to his current team in the end.

The Spanish matador revealed that he talked to multiple teams before making his decision, but it was apparently clear to him that Aston was the most serious out of them all. He said:

"I did speak with other people as well yes, I think it’s normal when you enter negotiations you need to balance what’s the market, listen to everyone else as well, it’s just a normal procedure."

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“It’s fair to listen to all the proposals, see how the market moves. But in my head, Aston was the logical team for me and at the end it was the best, I felt the most wanted in Aston Martin.”

Alonso also said his priority would be to talk to Aston about whether he decided he wanted to continue, and that was what he did. He later revealed that retirement wasn't really an option for him. He added:

"All the other conversations were just light and never aiming to any conclusions and maybe more time was needed while in Aston it was a clear desire to work together, that’s why it came very easy."

The 42-year-old holds the records for the most season and race starts in F1; his new contract means he will significantly extend both.

One more thing that the Spaniard might want to extend is his number of wins, which has been stuck at 32 ever since 2013.

Aston's partnership with Honda in 2026 has the potential to give the British team the boost they need to finally compete for race wins and maybe even Championships, and that is what the double-world champion is betting on at the moment.