The 2024 Formula 1 season saw a divide grow on the grid between the top four teams and the rest of the paddock.
Although seven drivers managed to win multiple races, Alpine were the only team out of the quartet of top-level teams to appear on the podium at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Aston Martin eventually managed to finish fifth in the Constructors’ Championship but were more than 350 points behind their closest rivals Mercedes.
Fernando Alonso was the best of the rest in the driver’s standings, although he scored the majority of his points before the summer break.
His teammate Lance Stroll hasn’t scored a point since finishing 10th at the Hungarian Grand Prix, putting even more pressure on the two-time world champion to deliver for the British team.
Alonso has made his feelings about Aston Martin’s performances clear over the course of the season.
The £19m-a-year F1 driver has two years left on his current deal, but whether he sees his contract out is another matter.
Fernando Alonso ‘running out’ of patience with Aston Martin after disappointing 2024 season
Journalist Ben Hunt was speaking on the James Allen on F1 Podcast about the future of the current grid.
Hunt was asked which driver he could see leaving F1 at the end of next season and said: “Yeah, I think Alonso is possibly a good shout.
READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2
“He’s finished the season grumbly, hasn’t he? Moaning at the team again, we’ve heard it all before.
“But I think that patience is running out. He’s getting older, and I think that he just wants to go and do something else.
“There is the prospect of the Newey car, and will he get to drive that next year?
“If it’s no good, I can see him throwing it all in and just going, you know what, I’ve tried it, I’ve had enough, going to go and do something else. So for me, he’s one.”
Aston Martin simply have to improve in 2025 to stop Fernando Alonso walking away from F1
Alonso has admitted 2024 wasn’t a bad year but only because Aston Martin are making exciting plans for the future.
Hiring Adrian Newey is a big bonus but he won’t start work until the beginning of March and it’s unlikely he’ll have any impact on next year’s car.
Instead, Aston Martin have to abandon plans to try and produce as much downforce as possible and sacrifice some of that performance to make the car more balanced.
Although Alonso is one of F1’s most skilful drivers, if he has to try and keep the car in such a narrow window to maximise performance, he’s not going to drive to his full potential very often.
READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage
Aston Martin are putting plans in place to be one of F1’s most successful teams for the foreseeable future with the investment ploughed into their Silverstone base.
However, if their short-term performance doesn’t improve, it will become harder and harder for Alonso to justify continuing in Formula 1.
The team will know they can’t rely on Stroll to be a lead driver if they do develop a championship-winning car.
It means Max Verstappen may end up on Aston Martin’s radar once again but getting him to agree to leave Red Bull is unlikely to be easy or cheap.
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