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F1 veteran makes career call; boost for Doohan comeback as silly season enters end game
Fernando Alonso has re-signed with Aston Martin for at least one more season, taking the 45-year-old into a 24th season. Aston Martin will also retain Lance Stroll, son of billionaire team owner Lawrence Stroll, reducing the number of available seats on the 2027 grid to just three.
Two-time champion Alonso, who holds the record for most grands prix started in world championship history, was already committed with a long-term deal to Aston Martin as part of a Formula 1 retirement plan that would see him continue as an ambassador for the team. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K.For months, however, he has weighed up whether he wants to continue driving, particularly given the team’s parlous competitive state and the prevalent regulations, which have fundamentally altered the challenge of Formula 1.
In recent weeks it has become clear that the sport has been discussing further changes to next year’s regulations in part because of Alonso and Aston Martin’s lobbying on behalf of struggling engine supplier Honda, with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem declaring that he wouldn’t allow the Spaniard to retire with such a lack of results. But in a video released with the announcement in which Alonso declares that he will “retire from Formula 1 — but not yet” Alonso said his passion for the sport won out.
“F1 has been great to me,” he said. “I had an incredible career. I travelled around the world. I raced for more than 23 years, more than 400 grands prix, and I achieved more than what I ever dreamt of.
“I still feel fast, motivated and a huge passion for Formula 1 and for the sport. PODCAST: George Russell wins the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after Kimi Antonelli crashes out of qualifying, but has he reignited his title hopes or simply delayed the inevitable? | “I see that it would not be only one year, but I don’t have any pressure to think about it,” he said, adding that he would only consider retiring when he felt he was slowing down.
“Probably for me the biggest, or the clearest thing to keep racing is I still feel self-confidence that I have something extra,” he said. “And when I think about stepping down or taking a different role in the team or not driving the car or whatever, in a way I feel it should not be like that because I still feel as fast as anybody. So let’s have another go.
“When I jump in the car, in free practice, I will see some people braking late in a corner, locking up the front tyres here or there, making mistakes there. “So when I get changed and I go back home, even if I’m P18, in a way I feel some satisfaction and pride inside, even if it should not be the case because we are not competitive.
“How will I be in the living room, watching TV, thinking that I can do better? That will be my feeling now. When that changes, if I see that I lost abilities, I lost speed, I lost reflexes, I lost something, then I will be happy to watch from my living room the race.
“At the moment, I feel it was not the time because I’m better than that guy. I’m better than that other guy. I will think like that. And I cannot stop racing if I still think like that.
” Has also doubled down on his belief that big-spending Aston Martin, with its high-profile talent pool and brand-new factory, had what it took to win titles, particularly with legendary designer Adrian Newey at the helm.
“This team has all the ingredients to have success in the future, and I didn’t feel that this was the moment to leave,” he said. “It was the moment to keep on going, giving a second chance to Honda as well to fix their problems as well and stay together with the team. “Adrian was probably the biggest contributor to this.
We didn’t start it right this year but things are moving in the right direction and he’s capable of changing things very quickly.
“The trust that I have in the team, it didn’t change even throughout this difficult year. In the future, I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but it will be a successful team, and I want to be part of it.
”ONLY FOUR SEATS REMAIN — BUT ONLY ONE IS UP FOR GRABS Confirmation that Alonso will continue — Stroll’s retention was always a given his father is the boss — puts the driver market into its final phase. What began as a silly season comprising as many as 17 available seats has been whittled down to just four, though only one of those is realistically available. Only Racing Bulls is uncommitted for next year.
Rookie Arvid Lindblad has been impressive and is all but certain to be retained, and though there is upwards pressure from Red Bull Formula 2 star Nikola Tsolov, Liam Lawson is also widely expected to extend his deal too. Oliver Bearman, a Ferrari driver on loan from Maranello, will continue despite a lack of official confirmation.
Esteban Ocon, however, declared last week that he was a free agent for 2027 amid widespread reports that he’s been told by the team to seek employment elsewhere. Without alternatives on next year’s grid, the decision will almost certainly signal the end of the one-time race winner’s decade-long career. Haas has yet to commit to his replacement, but Ferrari junior Rafael Câmara has emerged as the leading contender.
Câmara took the championship lead off Tsolov in Azerbaijan and has the season’s highest average qualifying result. The American-owned team fielded the 21-year-old Brazilian in a private test earlier this year, and he’s also been accumulating mileage with Ferrari.podcast has reported that Australian Jack Doohan has put himself back in the frame for the race seat following what is said to have been an impressive private test with Haas earlier this month.
Doohan started seven grands prix for Alpine in 2024 and 2025 before being replaced early last year by Franco Colapinto. The former Alpine driver academy protégé left the team during the off-season to take up the Haas reserve role in a bid to get back onto the grid, with Ocon’s seat having looked the most vulnerable ahead of the season.
Though Câmara is more heavily fancied, some believe fielding two Ferrari junior drivers would risk turning Haas into a de facto Ferrari B-team, particularly given the brand’s business model relies on buying as many performance parts from Maranello as possible.
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