Having committed to Aston Martin for F1 2026, Fernando Alonso says next season will be “very important” in deciding his future, but it will “not” be the final chapter.

43-year-old Alonso may be the oldest driver on today’s Formula 1 grid, but he’s not stopping any time soon.

Could F1 2026 be Fernando Alonso’s final season on the grid?

Not only does the double World Champion have a contract for this year’s championship, but he also has a deal for 2026 having extended with Aston Martin in a multi-year agreement.

However, his form this season has raised questions about his longevity.

Not only has Alonso been outpaced by his team-mate Lance Stroll, but it wasn’t until the Spanish Grand Prix, round nine of the championship, that he scored his first points of the campaign.

It marked the Spaniard’s worst start to a Formula 1 campaign since 2015 when he cried his infamous “GP2 engine” complaints about his Honda power unit while racing at the Japanese GP with McLaren.

Moving on from McLaren and Honda to Aston Martin and Mercedes, Alonso is not only betting on 2026 and its all-new cars and engines yielded his 34th Grand Prix win but also potentially his third World title.

But while next year’s success, or lack thereof, will be decisive, it won’t necessarily be the “final” factor.

F1 contracts: Made to be broken?

👉 Revealed: The six drivers out of contract at the end of the F1 2025 season

👉 F1 2026 driver line-up: Lewis Hamilton and other drivers already confirmed for 2026

“It will be a very important one, yes. Not the final one,” he said.

“I think I need to see how next year starts and how motivated I am. Every year, there is a different mood into the season. There is a different feeling on how you perform, how competitive you feel yourself, how motivated you are to keep your fitness at the high level—personal situation, family situation—all these things play a role in some important decisions in life.

“I know that a very important decision in life will come for me in the near future when I stop racing.

“I did my first race in go-kart at the age of three. I’m 43. So, for 40 years, I have had a steering wheel in my hands, and I know that one day I will have to stop. And that’s an important decision that I will think carefully. I did stop Formula 1 already once in 2018, and I came back because I needed it.

“So, the next one that I take, it has to be 100 per cent sure.”

For now Alonso, who broke his F1 2025 duck with a ninth place at the Spanish Grand Prix, says he wants to continue racing in F1.

“You need to feel it when it’s time and I don’t feel it yet. I jump in the car and I’m on the grid, and I’m just so happy to be there and motivated and performing well,” he said.

“At the end of the day, the stopwatch will tell me also when I have to stop. Or I have a physical condition that is bad, or I have pain driving or whatever, that could happen as well.

“Sometimes you get a little bit injured, you get some bad races. But if we keep it healthy and in good conditions, the stopwatch also will tell me one day that I don’t feel fast enough or I don’t feel that I can put the lap together. But so far, I’m happy with that.

“I’m happy when I’m on the grid. When I finish the race on Sunday, even if the results are not nice at the moment, I’m so motivated to go to the next race and try to overcome the bad race and have a better one.

“So all these kind of things are very alive now, but there is no guarantee that this will be forever.”

Read next: ‘Dangerous position’ – Former McLaren boss weighs in amid Max Verstappen ban threat