Why Alonso will not be Verstappen or Russell's new teammate

Fernando Alonso has signed a longer contract at Aston Martin. The Spaniard will drive for Aston Martin in F1 at least until 2026, but he has also hinted at a longer stay with the team. That could be as a driver or as an ambassador. In a press conference, Alonso told GPblog and others why he is staying with Aston Martin, what that future looks like, and what other offers there were.

Naturally, Alonso is delighted with his new deal. As the press event started, he opened by stating how 'easy' it actually was to sign a new contract with Aston Martin. Alonso has been suggesting from day one that his first priority was Aston Martin; in that respect, he has kept his word.

Why Alonso said 'no' to Red Bull and Mercedes

Yet the penny soon drops: of course, Alonso has also spoken to other teams. A natural process, but the smile on Alonso's face says a lot. He was clearly on the radar of Aston Martin and Mercedes. Alonso already shot down the deal with Mercedes last weekend, saying that that team were behind Aston Martin now. And now Red Bull didn't make a deal either.

The reason? Alonso points to the longer deal with Aston Martin as a key consideration for his extended stay. A contract he will not have been offered at Red Bull and certainly not by Mercedes. Toto Wolff didn't give Lewis Hamilton a longer deal, so wouldn't do the same to the even older Alonso.

At Aston Martin, though, they could offer him that security. Alonso wants to race for Lawrence Stroll's team at least until 2026, but a longer career in F1 is not out of the question. According to Alonso, he has signed the longest contract of his career so it is not a two-year deal, but much longer.

Alonso is now leaving it open in regards to whether that will be racing. In 2026, Alonso will turn 45, but the Spaniard himself sees no reason to stop racing just yet. Indeed, if he was to finish Formula 1, he would race in another class. "I find it hard to think what to do with my life without racing," Alonso is very clear about that.

In that respect, there are other projects within Aston Martin that Alonso could move on to when he gets 'too old' for F1. Aston Martin are active in WEC and Alonso also mentions in passing the project with the Aston Martin Valkyrie, the car designed by Adrian Newey who is admired by Alonso. Yet, for now, he is still completely focused on F1.

Yet it is clear that Alonso has signed a long deal with Aston Martin that allows him to go either way. He can continue to race for the F1 team, enter another racing class on behalf of the team or perhaps take on a completely different role within the team. Yet his role as a racer still seems the most plausible in the coming years.

How does Alonso feel about his new partnership with Honda?

With a longer deal at Aston Martin, it also means that Alonso will work with Honda again. Alonso and Honda did not part on good terms at the end of 2017. According to Alonso and McLaren, Honda was to blame for the poor performance and McLaren would be competing for prizes again with a Renault engine. It all turned out to be somewhat different. Not only had Honda done a poor job, McLaren had not done well either, as they did not improve at all with the Renault engine, while Red Bull would go on to win races with the Japanese engine not much later.

Alonso was anything but a fan of Honda at the time, with the famous 'GP2 engine' statement being the low point. "Honda is a manufacturer that has had success in Formula 1. It's a company I respect. It didn't work for us at McLaren, but right after that, they fixed the problems, and they currently dominate the sport," Alonso said at the press event.

It is a first step in the right direction, but Alonso saying he has always respected Honda and Japanese culture still takes some getting used to. Alonso reiterates this point when more questions come up about it. According to Alonso, it is a brand that has put a lot of energy into the new engine for 2026, and so Alonso is hugely looking forward to the reunion.

The question, though, is how this will play out. It is known that Honda started the new engine project later and also lost a lot of staff to other engine manufacturers, including Red Bull Powertrains, due to the temporary suspension of the F1 project. So whether Honda and Aston Martin will actually be directly competitive in 2026 remains very much to be seen.