Alonso sets summer break deadline on F1 future

Fernando Alonso says he will wait until after Formula 1’s summer break to decide whether to continue with Aston Martin in 2027, with the team’s progress and his own happiness set to determine whether his F1 career extends into a 24th season.

Speaking at the Miami Grand Prix, the Aston Martin driver said the timeline is now clear. “Sometime in the summer, I need to make a decision,” Alonso said. “At the moment I didn't sit with myself to think about that. I never thought about it in a deep way and I need to speak with my family as well.” He added that “until probably after the summer break” he will not really sit down with the team, because “we need to see also how the car improves and how we see things into next year.”

That decision is being shaped by a difficult 2026 season at Aston Martin. Multiple reports have described the AMR26 as both uncompetitive and unreliable in the opening rounds, with the team dealing with vibrations, gearbox issues and a lack of downforce. Alonso nevertheless said he is “very relaxed” about the choice and believes that, if he stays, next season should be stronger with the project in its second year.

Family life is now part of that calculation too. Alonso said becoming a father has changed the way he looks at the next phase of his career. Speaking to Sky Sports in Miami, he said: “I have some thoughts, I cannot lie. It does change the way you see life.” Rather than pushing him toward an immediate exit, he said it may have the opposite effect. “I want to race so he sees me racing,” Alonso said. “I would like not to stop before he is in the paddock, or he sits in my car, and this kind of thing.”

Even so, he made clear that staying in F1 is not the only attractive path available to him. Alonso told media including RacingNews365 that knowing what exists beyond grand prix racing does help his thinking. “The type of racing you have is probably arguably better racing [than] F1,” he said, referring to other categories he has already experienced. But he also said F1 still offers something no other series can match, describing “the whole package” of the sport, including “the tension” and “the sponsors,” as part of what keeps the balance tilted toward the championship.

That leaves Alonso weighing two different pulls over the coming months: whether Aston Martin can show enough progress to justify another year, and whether F1 still gives him more than the alternatives he already knows are there. If he decides the answer is no, he still does not expect to disappear. “If I stop racing, I know that I will race in other series,” Alonso said, before adding that his link to Aston Martin will remain. “You will see me in the paddock even if I stop racing.”