Formula 1 bid farewell to a number of drivers after and even during the 2024 season, but Tom Coronel believes one returning pilot should retire and stop ‘helping himself’.
Only 15 of the 20 drivers who raced in the 2024 season-finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will also be on the grid when F1 returns at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix in March. F1 will, however, welcome back Esteban Ocon with Haas after his early exit from Alpine prior to the final race.
Rookies or effective rookies like Oliver Bearman, who lost the tag after racing in three Grand Prix in 2024, will fill the other four slots. But Coronel thinks there should be even more fresh talent on the grid and that one of the elder statesmen of Formula 1 must hang his gloves up.
Tom Coronel urges Fernando Alonso to retire again and be an F1 team boss
Coronel believes the disappointing season that Aston Martin endured with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in 2024 should convince the former to retire from Formula 1 for the second time and become a team principal. Alonso already retired from F1 once at the close of 2018.
The 2024 Formula 1 season marked Alonso’s lowest points tally since he returned to F1 with Alpine in 2021, having only scored 70 of Aston Martin’s 94 this term. Alonso never managed a stronger finish than his P5 in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix during round two of the 24, too.
READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2
Alonso’s results still kept Aston Martin ahead of Alpine, Haas and Visa Cash App RB (who will be called Racing Bulls in 2025) in the constructors’ championship. But Coronel feels it is time for the Oviedo native to put his knowledge to use and help other drivers as an F1 team boss.
“Oh yeah, he was also in it,” Coronel told Formule1 about Alonso’s 2024 F1 season. “When you’re that old, you shouldn’t really want to do this anymore, at least not at the back of a team. Fernando is a great driver but I now see him more as a team boss, a leader.
“He understands Formula 1, he understands motorsport and he’s still driven. But he needs to take a different path. The time is ripe to start helping others instead of himself!”
Fernando Alonso refuses to call 2024 a bad Formula 1 season
Alonso previously called time on his two-time championship-winning Formula 1 career after four frustrating years at McLaren, the first three of which were ruined by what the Spaniard described as a ‘GP2’ Honda engine. But Alonso would return to the grid with Alpine in 2021.
His move to Aston Martin in 2023 then proved that Alonso made the right decision to come back to F1 as he scored six podiums through the first eight rounds. But the Silverstone team lost ground in the development race and Aston Martin continued to struggle through 2024.
Even Stroll admits Aston Martin are ‘disappointed’ with their upgrades due to an inability to bring new parts that actually improved their car this season. Yet, even if Coronel thinks this year proved that time is up for Alonso, he does not see the 2024 campaign in the same way.
Alonso refuses to call 2024 a bad season as Aston Martin have learned a lot which should be beneficial in 2025, whilst also convincing F1 design legend Adrian Newey to join after he quit Red Bull. Newey will start work at Aston Martin in March and help to design their 2026 car.
It would also come as a huge blow for Aston Martin if Alonso was to retire having shown his support for their project. The Spaniard was due to be a free agent after the 2024 season but Alonso and Aston Martin agreed a £19m-a-year contract to see him stay put through 2026.
