Alonso says Aston upgrades won’t determine his decision about his future

Fernando Alonso insists his future in Formula 1 will not be decided by the Aston Martin upgrade that is due before the summer break.

Ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix, Aston Martin released an interview with Adrian Newey, explaining some of the challenges facing the team as it prepares to introduce a major new package in Hungary. In the interview, Newey described it as a particularly important update to try and convince Alonso to keep driving for the team in 2027, but the Spaniard says that’s not the only aspect of his decision.

“I will think over the summer break,” Alonso said. “I cannot say that it's really connected. If the car is good or bad, there are other factors that I need to think about. Maybe the car is super good and there are still feelings that the sport is going in the wrong direction.

“I think the next two races will be a different experience than what we've been driving at Silverstone. Beautiful circuits in the past, especially with the ground effect cars, I think Silverstone was probably the best of the circuits, suiting that car perfectly.

“I think this year is going to be very different and not fun to drive. The car, looking at the simulator lap and things like that, it is going to be quite sad. I think for the drivers, but also for the spectators.

“And vice versa – maybe the car is not improving much in Budapest, but we have another upgrade, we have a completely new concept for next year, and there is a different feeling in the team that makes me think about continuing more years.

“It will help, no doubt. When I go on holiday on the 1st of August, it will be nice to have a good race in Budapest just before the holiday. But it will not be the only point.”

However, while the 44-year-old says patience will be required as Aston Martin is unlikely to reach any of its overall targets this season, he admits the direction of travel is the key aspect of the upcoming upgrade.

“It is important to say that the direction that we took – and all the time that we took as well since Bahrain, probably – the team made a decision to wait for a proper package to be introduced whenever it was," Alonso said. "We didn't know if it was race seven, race 12, or at the end of the year, but we knew that, ‘OK, this is our starting place and position. This is not good enough. We are lacking downforce, power, gearbox, experience, all these kind of things. So we need to make a study, we need to regroup and we need to make a plan.’

“I think the fans, they want us to win races and to fight for the championship. So I don't think that this year, whatever the upgrade is, whatever we can improve, will never be enough. We will always miss an extra package. So that has to be clear for the fans that we are working day and night to improve the car. We will get better. We will win races, [but] not this year.

“This is only the first step in the plan. It cannot be the last one. So for me, it's important to feel in Hungary that we are understanding what are the weaknesses of the car and we are tackling them. Especially on the aero package, that is the first one that is coming.

“We are striving with very specific things this year behind the wheel. If those are improved in Hungary and we can drive the car to maximum, then I think there is a very clear path and a good momentum that we can take for next year. So that's for me the most important thing.”