Alonso returns to the track in Newey-designed Aston Martin WEC hypercar test

F1 is currently on an enforced five-week break due to the US-Iran war, with drivers able to participate in tests or races they would otherwise not have been able to around what would have been the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia race weekends.

Alonso's teammate Lance Stroll has made his GT3 racing debut at Circuit Paul Ricard, while Max Verstappen is set to take part in the ADAC 24 Hours Nürburgring Qualifiers, ahead of the full race next month.

Two-time world champion Alonso, no stranger to other categories of motorsport, has been behind the wheel of the Aston Martin Valkyrie LM, the British team's challenger in both WEC and the North American IMSA series.

In a video posted to Aston Martin's social media accounts, the Valkryie LM is described as the "ultimate incarnation" of the Le Mans hypercar.

Alonso himself shared pictures of the test, with the caption: "Aston Martin UNLEASHED track experience.

"Great day and always good to relive the prototype years! Incredible experience and an amazing sound."

The Valkyrie LM is the only competitor derived from a road legal hypercar, which itself was designed by Aston Martin's F1 team principal Adrian Newey.

The legendary aerodynamicist designed the road car ten years ago at Red Bull, when the Milton Keynes-based team were in partnership with the British manufacturer.

But as Aston Martin's Head of Endurance Motorsport Adam Carter suggested, the Valkyrie was always destined for racing.

Upon the Valkyrie LM's launch in February 2025 prior to Aston Martin's hypercar WEC debut, Carter said: "It would be almost unimaginable for Adrian Newey to design a car and not think about it going racing at some point."

In 2025, Aston Martin finished its first season P8 in the Hypercar Manufacturers' Championship on 24 points, with the 2026 campaign set to get underway this weekend at the Imola 6 hours race.

With all the talk surrounding whether Max Verstappen could take a 'sabbatical' from F1, it's not a bad time to revisit Alonso's own F1 hiatus, in which he became a WEC champion with Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Across the 2018-19 'Super Season', Alonso, alongside teammates Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, secured five WEC victories in the LMP1 car.

Two of those wins came at Le Mans, the most coveted on the WEC calendar, with another two at the six hours at Spa-Francochamps and one at the 1000 miles of Sebring.

Alonso had also won at Silverstone, but his No. 8 car was later disqualified due to a technical infringement.

Leaving WEC as champion to return to F1 in 2021, Alonso only had positive things to say about his experience, with the Le Mans victories standing as "one of the highlights of my career."