Fernando Alonso has two more years left on his Formula 1 contract with Aston Martin before he must make a decision on retirement at the age of 45.
The two-time champion has been with the Silverstone-based outfit for two seasons and is eagerly anticipating the arrival of Adrian Newey from Red Bull.
Alonso’s big chance to win a third drivers’ championship may arrive with the 2026 F1 regulations as the sport enters a new dawn and the grid underdoes the biggest rule change of the century.
Aston Martin are viewed as one of the hottest prospects for the title next year, after heavy investment in personnel and infrastructure.
The arriving Newey is baffled by one Alonso stat as he finally gets to work with the Spaniard in 2025 – that he has only two championships to his name.
There’s the possibility for a new legacy to be made if they can pair up to deliver a championship to the Silverstone-based outfit while they’re both on the brink of retirement.
Red Bull is the ‘only team’ that Fernando Alonso would join after Aston Martin
With the grid facing the big reset ahead of the 2026 season, there could be a lot of activity in the driver market.
Red Bull, who are going to be adopting their own power unit soon are most at risk of dropping down the standings as they become more self-sufficient.
If the reliability and speed isn’t there from day one, Max Verstappen could look for a move away and to somewhere promising like Aston Martin who have a ‘game-changing’ plan to catch Ferrari and Red Bull.
READ MORE: Fernando Alonso just used one word to describe his feelings on Adrian Newey joining Aston Martin
That could leave Alonso without a drive, and The Race’s Scott Mitchell-Malm believes that the only other team he would join is Red Bull.
“I can see Red Bull taking Alonso as the stop-gap,” he said. “Because I just think with the situation that they’re in driver-wise, and kind of readjusting their junior programme situation. They’ve got a couple of drivers now that are really interesting prospects Red Bull, but they’re not ready for the top team.
“You’re looking at someone like Arvid Lindblad or if Isack Hadjar comes good in Racing Bulls and lives up more to the kind of peaks we’ve seen in junior categories, he could be an interesting prospect as well. I just think that’s a 2027, [or] 2028 driver situation for Red Bull Racing,” he continued.
“That’s basically the perfect situation for someone like Alonso being available because it would be exactly the type of profile that Red Bull needs. An absolute A-list driver that you can trust but you don’t need to worry taking up a seat for the long term. It would be about the only team that I think Alonso would leave Aston and extend his F1 career for.”
Why would Fernando Alonso leave Aston Martin if they signed Max Verstappen?
Aston Martin are unlikely to move on from Lance Stroll before they’ve given him the opportunity to drive a title-winning car.
The ties of his father owning the team would probably (but not 100%) mean that any incoming would result in Alonso leaving instead.
After rumours picked up in January, Verstappen’s camp responded to a reported £1bn Aston Martin offer by saying that no approach had been made.
READ MORE: Why Renault once withdrew Fernando Alonso from Formula 1 despite his ‘excellent’ performances
For now it looks like the Stroll and Alonso partnership will continue for at least the next two seasons, but after that is anyone’s guess.
The 2009 regulation changes were the perfect example of how drastically things can change, as Brawn (formerly Toyota) and Red Bull competed for a championship after finishing 5th and 7th respectively the year before.
