Four months away from his 44th birthday, Fernando Alonso insists when the day comes that he’s “not fast” or is “struggling on the pace”, he’ll be the first to know it and he’ll say so.

But until that day arrives, the “ultra-competitive” Spaniard intends to race in Formula 1.

Fernando Alonso: I will be the first one that I’m not enjoying it

Lining up on the Formula 1 grid for his 22nd season having made his debut back in 2001, Alonso is the oldest driver on the grid, three-and-a-half years older than Lewis Hamilton and almost six years older than Nico Hulkenberg.

To put his age – and experience – into perspective, Alonso lined up on the Albert Park grid on 4 March 2001 days, months and even years before some of this year’s rookies were even born.

A month after his debut, Oscar Piastri arrived in this world while five years and four months later so too did Kimi Antonelli. Liam Lawson, Jack Doohan, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Bearman were also born after Alonso’s debut.

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But while the youngsters, all but Piastri, gear up for their debut campaigns, Alonso is not only entering his 22nd season but he has already signed up for a 23rd. He may even stick around longer than that.

“It’s a privilege to keep racing and doing what I love to do which is racing cars,” he said in the FIA Drivers’ press conference ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.

“I’ve been lucky enough to race and to experience many different eras of the sport and I’m still here and I still feel competitive and motivated and fresh to travel around the world and race these cars.

“And most importantly, I think, feeling competitive.

“If one day I feel that I’m not fast, or I feel that I’m struggling on the pace, or, you know anything, I will be the first one that I’m not enjoying it. I’m an ultra-competitive person.

“So, for me, the most important thing is that I made my debut in 2001, I raced the first ever Chinese Grand Prix in 2004 here and in 2025 I’m here and I’m as fast as 2004, is what I feel.

“Faster now because maybe there are different tools now and different possibilities for us, for drivers, to improve ourselves and to tweak some of the weaknesses that we could have along our careers.

“So as I said, I feel privileged to be here.”

Not everyone though, is happy to see the Spaniard start his 22nd season-opening Grand Prix with Dutch pundit Tom Coronel declaring Alonso’s time is over.

Not because he’s lost performance, but because it is time for him to give someone new a chance.

“It’s a shame but you know, there is a time to come and a time to go,” he told Motorsport.com in the build-up to the F1 2025 season. “And yes with Alonso, I think you’re cool, I think you’re a topper, a racer through and through, he always goes for it with full dedication.

“This is a real racing driver that I look at and that I think but I also say about that man, you know what? Make way. Get out of here, go.

“You’ve made your money, you know, take a different role in motorsport because that is real. Take the sporting side, go coach drivers. I know that he is behind [Sauber rookie Gabriel] Bortoleto.

“You know, try to make something beautiful out of that but your time is over and by the way, has been for a long time. What are you still doing [here?]

“In terms of name and that kind of stuff, respect, great, cool. But you do not belong there anymore and you know that. So give that seat to someone else.”

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