F1 Today | Longevity blocking young talent within F1 again

I'm perhaps a little bit unique regarding this sort of stuff. Seeing a young driver develop and move into Formula 1 is great. There is no better (recent) example than Oliver Bearman earlier this year. But I love a bit of longevity and loyalty. That's what Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso demonstrated this afternoon. The Spanish driver will continue racing in Formula 1 beyond his 45th birthday.

It's worth pondering however likely or unlikely you think it is. Only Juan Manuel Fangio has won a World Championship beyond the age of 45. A remarkable feat in modern Formula 1 with so much young talent trying to kick doors down. This is perhaps a kick in the teeth for those in the pipeline at Aston Martin.

Alonso signs a new deal with Aston Martin

The press release page covered just one sentence: "I am here to stay." Fernando Alonso was signed. The Spaniard (42) will also be active for Aston Martin for the next two seasons. Half an hour after he made that message public, Alonso spoke to the international media—including GPBlog—to discuss his contract extension. 

"You have to weigh up everything," Alonso continued. "See what the market is. To listen to everyone else as well. It's just a normal procedure and I think it's fair as well to listen to all the proposals and to see how the market moves. In my head, Aston was the logical thing for me to do and in the end it was also the the best. I felt the most wanted in Aston Martin. All the other conversations were just light, and I never came to any conclusions or something like that. Maybe more time was needed all these kind of things, while in Aston it was a clear desire to work together which was the same that I had so that that's why it came very easy."

More quotes will be on GPblog tomorrow, but the general feel of the press conference has been summarised here. 

Hamilton's brother and his gambling addiction

Lewis Hamilton was winning a World Championship for Mercedes in 2017. His brother was battling a gambling addiction and was forced to sell a car Lewis had gifted him. Nicolas Hamilton has opened up about the story in his book.

Horner criticism

At Red Bull Racing, Helmut Marko always decided which driver got a spot in the team. Christian Horner's conversation with Fernando Alonso about a possible seat with the Austrian team at least suggests that the British team boss has bypassed Marko in this area (this time). Former F1 driver Christijan Albers does not understand why Alonso is an option for Red Bull at all. Instead, he would go all out to make Max Verstappen more comfortable.