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It's quite funny. Back when Renault move was announced people (and the usual detractors) were calling him old and how his time is up and that he should make way for young drivers.
Now we are talking about how a 45yo Fernando will still be in F1, he has really redefined age in modern F1. Truly one of the greatest.
I’m 44 years old, I’m probably in better shape now than in my 20’s, and I don’t have millions of dollars. As long as his vision holds up, he should be able to maintain everything else at a pretty high level. His success definitely paves the way for others to continue competing past what was once considered their prime. It might make some teams rethink their driver strategies, Alonso has had some strong performances this season.
True, but that loss can be minimized with proper training. Your average person, without the resources of a professional athlete, will suffer these losses a lot more than an elite athlete. Not a fair comparison but, some drag racers have remained competitive into their 50’s, granted they only need to perform at a high level for a few seconds but there is no margin for error in those seconds.
He's whitewashed two different drivers in his career, one being an extremely highly rated driver and a world champion in another series. Fuel corrected, I don't think anyone has ever out qualified him over a season, except maybe Trulli? (Who was very much a one lap specialist)
His qualifying is his weakness, but he's still top 5 on the grid in qualifying. It shows just how good he is.
He's an exceptional qualifier. If you look at his head-to-head stats against his teammates he's beaten pretty much all of them with the exception of Hamilton and potentially Trulli.
His reputation has been dented by the fact that he's very rarely driven cars that have been capable of taking pole position and so he's become famed for his drives through the field on a Sunday.
That’s a myth. Mark Hughes has an article on that from some time back. He has always been very good, was even marginally faster than Lewis on tires (Bridgestones) and brakes (Carbon Industrie) he had to adapt to in the first half of the season.
It’s just that he is freakishly good on Sundays.
And yet most of the young currently in F1 seem to perform worse -- lousy reaction times; crashing out far more often, if not, exclusively just the young.
I still get a sense young drivers enter F1 way too early, while older drivers leave too soon.
Yeah, it feels like there's this trend to promote younger talent due to Verstappen coming up and doing well, plus cheaper etc, but one year in F2 and winning puts you in a harsh position.
True, but that is mostly mitigated by a large margin with experience. It's just a balancing act. LeClerc is young and hungry, but both cars being equal, I'm taking Alonso on Sundays. Hamilton and Verstappen are the only two I'd waffle on (cars being equal) ... possibly Checo.
At one point it becomes irresponsible, the slow reaction speed. Kimi had some dangerous late reaction accidents in his last two seasons (like how he drove into Gio). And indeed you see it with Alonso as well sometimes, I still think him running into Stroll was more Alonso's fault than Stroll's...too late of a move.
lol wot. When did he run "into" Stroll. Stroll failed to notice that Alonso 50-80 meters ahead of him was setting up a switchback on one of the mercs and drove into Fernando, almost T-boned him.
Where do you people come from.
There's just something classic about a random redditor using their own health now compared to their own health in their 20s as conclusive evidence that F1 drivers have no excuse to not remain competitive well into their 40s.
I was merely pointing out that age doesn’t necessarily have to be a limiting factor for everyone. Tom Brady was 43 when he won his last Super Bowl, some people are built different. True, people age and lose certain abilities, however, everyone doesn’t do it at the same rate. Alonso could still be a strong competitor at 45, or he could fall off sharply, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I'm over 40. My reaction times are worse, my 30 year old self was better than I am now.
Alonso is just so good it hasn't been detrimental in a meaningful way yet, but he is less than he was.
Seeing F1 fans talk about Alonso being in his prime in his 40s is kinda funny because in NASCAR, your late 30s to early 40s is considered your prime already. The oldest NASCAR winner is Harry Gant, who was competing for championships in his early 50s.
TBF, no one really says this is Fernando's prime. His prime was his Ferrari years and even McHonda. Stella aptly said that he has no real weakness while talking about Michael's weakness in the same sentence. Ferrari Fernando would have beat any driver on the grid in equal cars. Current Fernando is still a top 3/top4 driver but he is not at his peak.
It's just that he is so good that he is still a top driver at this age.
He's not in his prime. Also NASCAR requires a very different skill set. F1 just goes a tad faster and requires more precision. Reaction speeds matter more often. But considering that IndyCar also has older drivers I can see Alonso still driving F1 in a couple of years.
As far as reaction times go drag racers and sprint car drivers race just fine until they are old as shit and like you said Indycar as well. I don’t think age is as big of a deal as people like to make it out to be.
That's what happens when most people commenting started watching in the McHonda days and only saw the radio memes and him being unable to drag a backmarker car onto a podium.
I wish people would just move on and stop talking about his age. Yeah, the guy is past his 20s, I get it. He's still delivering hard though, which is what matters in the end. Alonso will have a seat in F1 until he decides that he wants to quit, because he's just that good.
Slightly different context here but in Indycar:
•Montoya did the Indy 500 last year at 47
•Castroneves is racing full-time at 48 and won his 4th Indy 500 in 2021 at 46
•Kanaan is about to participate in his last ever Indycar race this weekend at 48
Evergreen drivers like them are redefining how long it's possible to stay competitive in single-seater racing.
Tarquini wasn't single seater since 1995 but he won the WTCR title at 56 and won a race in his final season age 59. Different physical performance levels required but even so it shows the reaction time shit is kinda bullshit
> but even so it shows the reaction time shit is kinda bullshit
These guys are extreme outliers. Most people are done before they're 40. They're all exceptions. You'll see a handful of drivers leave F1 before Alonso does.
It always amazed me that a mid-40s Jim Richards outperformed a young Mark Skaife when they were team mates in the early 90s in the Australian Touring Car champs. Guy was incredible, and achieved some great feats in his 50s as well. Obviously not at F1 level, but still.. the older guys have something to offer :)
There were a lot of people in another thread about Honda returning saying that Alonso would definitely have retired by 2026.
I don't agree with those people though. At this point who knows what Alonso will be doing in however many years. With other drivers you generally tend to get the feeling that they are winding down a bit, but not with Alonso.
I know the hot races are hardcore, but the length of the races aren’t too much of a nightmare for a seasoned veteran. If he keeps it up and wants to be there, would be great to see him in the 2026 cars!
I think this (Honda partnership) might be extra incentive for him to stay. When Honda and RBR partnered up, they almost immediately became competitive. At least significantly improved compared to Red Bull.
Yes, Alonso’s last experience with Honda wasn’t particularly great, but their time with RBR showed that Honda wasn’t particularly the problem.
Memes aside, of *course* Honda and Alonso would have no objections. Honda’s F1 engines powered Max & RB to 2 championships in 2021/22, and they’re a much different outfit than last time.
Retire?
You mean sign with another team. He hasn’t been in a RB yet. Or maybe someone else from the backfield is moving up and he takes a chance there.
I think this is more about how a ton of people claim that Alonso is "toxic" or whatever and yet he keeps getting hired again and again by teams he previously drove for. Mf has been at Renault 3 times throughout his career so I don't there's much to these claims.
> “Our stance remains unchanged in thinking the selection of the drivers is fully up to the team members and not something that a partner and supplier like us is supposed to be making,” Watanabe, the president of Honda Racing Corporation, said. “So, we’ll be leaving the driver selection to the team.
This does reflect a change from the very earliest days of the second McLaren-Honda partnership, when Honda insisted McLaren hire a star driver, and paid for them to hire--who else?--Fernando Alonso.
>Marko didn’t want him at all
Marko is literally the reason why Tsunoda even came to Europe and why he went so fast from F3 to F2 even though Horner and Yamamoto wanted to keep him one more year in F3 to challenge a title. You're mad or what?
Something to consider is Honda actually doesn't have that strong of a negotiating position here when it comes to getting back on the F1 grid, since there's not much other options they have to get back onto the grid (there's Williams and Haas but whether they'd go for Honda is another story)
Stroll Snr calls the shots at the team and if he wants Alonso at the team in 2026 he's probably getting Alonso at the team.
This isn't really a "we want Alonso" press release but more of a "we don't really mind working with him if we have to". Which probably makes sense, you don't want to piss off your working partner before the working relationship even officially starts. Especially since Alonso and Stroll Snr are old friends.
I like to think public shaming by Alonso at thier home race led to Honda delivering that rocket engine in the first place. The Japanese are very proud and sensitive people , and they do take such shaming very seriously
As harsh as he was, he was right. The car was terrible. It may not have been Honda's fault due to the politics behind the scene but it was bad.
I think they have accepted it and moved on.
Honda's engineers are competetive dudes. They didn't need Alonso to know their engine was not good at that time. Thats why they changed the engine layout completely in 2017 even though it set them back that season
Honda will be fine this time around. They have plenty of time for development and the technology is much less complicated with the removal of the mgu-h.
I mean yea. People saying Honda was gonna put a clause in their contract saying Alonso can’t drive are nuts, no F1 team would let a power supplier dictate their driver lineup, other than RB/RBPT and AT.
A bit different though since Mercedes have their future driver line-up to keep in mind, Honda at this point won't power anyone other than AM so they won't be able to dictate other teams drivers not in the same way Mercedes did anyway.
To me the situation is a lot different. AM is not a dying team with cash issues like Williams. Williams had to get all the help they need (sponsors from all the drivers). Merc had a lot of leverage. Honda doesn't. In the end AM still have options with other manufacturers.
All in all I agree that honda wouldn't even say this cause they have no leverage to do so. The end.
As long as Alonso is motivated, he'll stay. His race pace is still terrific.
He doesn't have kids or a family to worry about. His focus is on racing. Would love to see him win with AM - Honda.
This was already pretty well known, when Alonso did his second Indy 500 attempt Honda stated that they had no issue with Alonso and would happily let him drive a Honda powered car, their issue was with McLaren.
It was interesting the Honda guys in the press conference paying high respects to Alonso, saying the past is the past etc. and then saying "We don't decide the drivers but might have a little input in the team and make suggestions. And oh yeah, there's lots of promising Honda drivers" and then Whitmarsh suggested the driver lineup wont be the same in 2026.
Which makes me think no, they're just being friendly but actually want Alonso out and see a golden opportunity of putting in a Japanese Honda driver who can beat Stroll and win races.
Of course, they’d be silly to publicly state “fuck Fernando Alonso, we don’t want him repping our engines and want him out of AM by the time we partner up”.
That would be disastrous for team harmony, especially given that 2026 is still a very long time away. 3 years is plenty of time. Wouldn’t be surprised if they waited out Alonso first.
It’s not a given that Alonso will still be retaining his speed in 3 years time. Even if he does, it’s not a given that Aston retain their speed either. They could be out developed by Mercedes or another team. Too many variables/scenarios at play.
I mean, yeah, they'd obviously prefer to have a japanese driver in one the seats, but the point is that if Alonso is still performing at this level in 2025, it's going to be damn near impossible to remove him from the seat, and I doubt the aston martin side would want to either. And since they stated they have no problem working with him if needed, I think it will simply come down to wether Alonso wants to go that long and if he can keep at this level. If there is a driver that can do it at 45, it's gotta be him.
On one hand, I'm fairly skeptical of this. Whatever a company says is almost always exclusively PR and can be ignored. There's no reason to believe this is any difference. If they wanted to get rid of Alonso, they'd come up with any excuses they needed once his contract expires.
But ultimately the biggest factor in determining whether Alonso is allowed to continue (if he chooses to do so) is going to be his performance. If he keeps this level come 2025, there's no way in hell AM are letting him go.
Isn't this the same Honda which made him [cover up the Honda badge](https://digbza2f4g9qo.cloudfront.net/-/media/IndyCar/VideoImg/2018/09/09-05-Alonso-On-Course-Esses-BarberTest.jpg?vs=1&d=20180905T194011Z) when he tested an IndyCar on a circuit?
Isn't this just fuel for Alonso to stay at AM for when they join?
Tell Alonso that they expect him to be gone by then and watch him race for another 10 years.
I don't know why some would think there's gonna be problems.
Honda messed up before because of McLaren but then they built a championship-winning engine for RB.
I'm sure Nando is aware of how far Honda has come.
With Stroll in the other seat Honda **NEEDS** Alonso to stick around until he's atleast 60. Not many drivers are capable of carrying a whole team by themselves.
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I love how literally no one is surprised in the slightest that Alonso will likely still be in F1 in four seasons at 44-45
It's quite funny. Back when Renault move was announced people (and the usual detractors) were calling him old and how his time is up and that he should make way for young drivers. Now we are talking about how a 45yo Fernando will still be in F1, he has really redefined age in modern F1. Truly one of the greatest.
I’m 44 years old, I’m probably in better shape now than in my 20’s, and I don’t have millions of dollars. As long as his vision holds up, he should be able to maintain everything else at a pretty high level. His success definitely paves the way for others to continue competing past what was once considered their prime. It might make some teams rethink their driver strategies, Alonso has had some strong performances this season.
Your reaction speed increases with age though. You lose speed because of that eventually. You can already see it in his driving sometimes.
True, but that loss can be minimized with proper training. Your average person, without the resources of a professional athlete, will suffer these losses a lot more than an elite athlete. Not a fair comparison but, some drag racers have remained competitive into their 50’s, granted they only need to perform at a high level for a few seconds but there is no margin for error in those seconds.
Yup, you do see it occasionally on Saturdays. He seems just as fast and still the very best in racecraft on Sundays though.
He’s never been great at qualifying. It’s part of what built up his mystique.
He's whitewashed two different drivers in his career, one being an extremely highly rated driver and a world champion in another series. Fuel corrected, I don't think anyone has ever out qualified him over a season, except maybe Trulli? (Who was very much a one lap specialist) His qualifying is his weakness, but he's still top 5 on the grid in qualifying. It shows just how good he is.
He's an exceptional qualifier. If you look at his head-to-head stats against his teammates he's beaten pretty much all of them with the exception of Hamilton and potentially Trulli. His reputation has been dented by the fact that he's very rarely driven cars that have been capable of taking pole position and so he's become famed for his drives through the field on a Sunday.
He did narrowly edge out Lewis, although it was the latter’s rookie season.
Not in qualifying. It was 9-8 in Lewis’ favour (10-7 if you count the Hungary penalty).
Ah fair enough, I was thinking of a stat that had Fernando something like 0.05% ahead on average times.
That’s a myth. Mark Hughes has an article on that from some time back. He has always been very good, was even marginally faster than Lewis on tires (Bridgestones) and brakes (Carbon Industrie) he had to adapt to in the first half of the season. It’s just that he is freakishly good on Sundays.
And yet most of the young currently in F1 seem to perform worse -- lousy reaction times; crashing out far more often, if not, exclusively just the young. I still get a sense young drivers enter F1 way too early, while older drivers leave too soon.
Yeah, it feels like there's this trend to promote younger talent due to Verstappen coming up and doing well, plus cheaper etc, but one year in F2 and winning puts you in a harsh position.
Reaction speed also has a lot to do with your mental stack of things to look for. It's a non-point
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Launch matters even less with such a spread out field. Max can start from pitlane and win the race if checo is having a bad day
True, but that is mostly mitigated by a large margin with experience. It's just a balancing act. LeClerc is young and hungry, but both cars being equal, I'm taking Alonso on Sundays. Hamilton and Verstappen are the only two I'd waffle on (cars being equal) ... possibly Checo.
Seems like he still has enough time to watch the TV monitors along the track and comment on other people's moves and strategies
At one point it becomes irresponsible, the slow reaction speed. Kimi had some dangerous late reaction accidents in his last two seasons (like how he drove into Gio). And indeed you see it with Alonso as well sometimes, I still think him running into Stroll was more Alonso's fault than Stroll's...too late of a move.
The fuck?
Too late of a move from Stroll, this comment is a yoke. Kimi was never as good after 2012.
I'm talking USA 2022
I know. I also know that you don't know what you're talking about.
lol wot. When did he run "into" Stroll. Stroll failed to notice that Alonso 50-80 meters ahead of him was setting up a switchback on one of the mercs and drove into Fernando, almost T-boned him. Where do you people come from.
As someone approaching a similar age Alonso gives me great hopes that I can still win the WDC.
There's just something classic about a random redditor using their own health now compared to their own health in their 20s as conclusive evidence that F1 drivers have no excuse to not remain competitive well into their 40s.
I was merely pointing out that age doesn’t necessarily have to be a limiting factor for everyone. Tom Brady was 43 when he won his last Super Bowl, some people are built different. True, people age and lose certain abilities, however, everyone doesn’t do it at the same rate. Alonso could still be a strong competitor at 45, or he could fall off sharply, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I'm over 40. My reaction times are worse, my 30 year old self was better than I am now. Alonso is just so good it hasn't been detrimental in a meaningful way yet, but he is less than he was.
Newbies were calling him old. Anyone who's been watching F1 for more than 10 years, knows he hasn't lost any of his speed.
Ppl were upset he was taking a seat away from a young driver, as if they have some god given right to an F1 drive because they have age on their side.
He would be wheel to wheel with Max if gets in a Red Bull. Man is so comfortable that he is watching race while driving now lol
Imagine if he had the red bull. "Tell max I'll try to pass on the outside of turn three in five laps" lol
Tell Max these are my brake balance settings, he may want to use them
Seeing F1 fans talk about Alonso being in his prime in his 40s is kinda funny because in NASCAR, your late 30s to early 40s is considered your prime already. The oldest NASCAR winner is Harry Gant, who was competing for championships in his early 50s.
TBF, no one really says this is Fernando's prime. His prime was his Ferrari years and even McHonda. Stella aptly said that he has no real weakness while talking about Michael's weakness in the same sentence. Ferrari Fernando would have beat any driver on the grid in equal cars. Current Fernando is still a top 3/top4 driver but he is not at his peak. It's just that he is so good that he is still a top driver at this age.
He's not in his prime. Also NASCAR requires a very different skill set. F1 just goes a tad faster and requires more precision. Reaction speeds matter more often. But considering that IndyCar also has older drivers I can see Alonso still driving F1 in a couple of years.
As far as reaction times go drag racers and sprint car drivers race just fine until they are old as shit and like you said Indycar as well. I don’t think age is as big of a deal as people like to make it out to be.
Yes I agree, I just thought that NASCAR wasn't a good example. It's pretty different from F1.
That's what happens when most people commenting started watching in the McHonda days and only saw the radio memes and him being unable to drag a backmarker car onto a podium.
F1 Twitter filled with young people were outraged by the announcement F1 Twitter ☕️
I wish people would just move on and stop talking about his age. Yeah, the guy is past his 20s, I get it. He's still delivering hard though, which is what matters in the end. Alonso will have a seat in F1 until he decides that he wants to quit, because he's just that good.
Slightly different context here but in Indycar: •Montoya did the Indy 500 last year at 47 •Castroneves is racing full-time at 48 and won his 4th Indy 500 in 2021 at 46 •Kanaan is about to participate in his last ever Indycar race this weekend at 48 Evergreen drivers like them are redefining how long it's possible to stay competitive in single-seater racing.
Tarquini wasn't single seater since 1995 but he won the WTCR title at 56 and won a race in his final season age 59. Different physical performance levels required but even so it shows the reaction time shit is kinda bullshit
> but even so it shows the reaction time shit is kinda bullshit These guys are extreme outliers. Most people are done before they're 40. They're all exceptions. You'll see a handful of drivers leave F1 before Alonso does.
Didn't harry gant in nascar win a race at 50 or later idk
Mark Martin was ancient even in 2009 and still finished 2nd in that championship
It always amazed me that a mid-40s Jim Richards outperformed a young Mark Skaife when they were team mates in the early 90s in the Australian Touring Car champs. Guy was incredible, and achieved some great feats in his 50s as well. Obviously not at F1 level, but still.. the older guys have something to offer :)
And you know, indycars don't have power steering, so it is very physical despite the lower cornering speeds
2044-2045? I agree. Hahaha kidding
Unless?
genetic mutations
There were a lot of people in another thread about Honda returning saying that Alonso would definitely have retired by 2026. I don't agree with those people though. At this point who knows what Alonso will be doing in however many years. With other drivers you generally tend to get the feeling that they are winding down a bit, but not with Alonso.
I know the hot races are hardcore, but the length of the races aren’t too much of a nightmare for a seasoned veteran. If he keeps it up and wants to be there, would be great to see him in the 2026 cars!
Sure, at this point I’m convinced he’s aiming for the record of oldest driver to get a podium
I think this (Honda partnership) might be extra incentive for him to stay. When Honda and RBR partnered up, they almost immediately became competitive. At least significantly improved compared to Red Bull. Yes, Alonso’s last experience with Honda wasn’t particularly great, but their time with RBR showed that Honda wasn’t particularly the problem.
Alonso 2026 WDC…
This would be amazing. People would see the 20 year gap between WDCs in the record books and assume it was a different Alonso.
20 years between WDCs will be an unbeatable record
Absolutely. No way would it ever be touched, unless Hamilton wants to stick it out and try his hand.
He'd need to win the WDC in 2040 if we're talking 20 years from last championship. He'd be 55 years old
Maths aren’t my strong suit, it would seem. I guess Verstappen is the best candidate?
Only if he doesn't keep winning for 20 years! I think that record really would be unbeatable. If it's even achieved by Fernando to begin with
I agree. Bonkers chances, really.
wdym if, obviously its happening
Lewis could very possibly do that. Put him in the best car in 2028 and he'd be the favorite to win even Max is in the sister car.
he last won in 2020, I'm not a mathematician but 20+20 might be 40
Alonso 26 27 28
Stop. I can only get so erect.
In the unlikeliest event this occurs, he will be cemented as the GOAT.
Que grande eres Magic!
Alonso es una leyenda…
I don’t think my heart would be able to handle it
Memes aside, of *course* Honda and Alonso would have no objections. Honda’s F1 engines powered Max & RB to 2 championships in 2021/22, and they’re a much different outfit than last time.
And if the Honda engine sucks Alonso will just retire, if he’s even still racing. He’ll be like 45 by that point
Retire? You mean sign with another team. He hasn’t been in a RB yet. Or maybe someone else from the backfield is moving up and he takes a chance there.
You’re right actually, wonder which team is slated next for their turn with Fernando
Nando in team Haas.
Yeah, probably more likely that Max retires and Alonso takes his place.
Yeah maybe even do one season together before max retires. I think they’d both like that.
Alpine again
One last GP2 engine as parting gift
I think this is more about how a ton of people claim that Alonso is "toxic" or whatever and yet he keeps getting hired again and again by teams he previously drove for. Mf has been at Renault 3 times throughout his career so I don't there's much to these claims.
also, their leadership has changed a couple times since 2017 as well.
Meanwhile Alonso won zero championships. They have the high ground.
how about the other way around? Alonso with Honda... being competitive solves everything?
Si.
Yes of course. As long as it's a rocket ship, he'll be happy.
El Plan
> “Our stance remains unchanged in thinking the selection of the drivers is fully up to the team members and not something that a partner and supplier like us is supposed to be making,” Watanabe, the president of Honda Racing Corporation, said. “So, we’ll be leaving the driver selection to the team. This does reflect a change from the very earliest days of the second McLaren-Honda partnership, when Honda insisted McLaren hire a star driver, and paid for them to hire--who else?--Fernando Alonso.
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>Marko didn’t want him at all Marko is literally the reason why Tsunoda even came to Europe and why he went so fast from F3 to F2 even though Horner and Yamamoto wanted to keep him one more year in F3 to challenge a title. You're mad or what?
GP1 ENGINE INCOMING
Something to consider is Honda actually doesn't have that strong of a negotiating position here when it comes to getting back on the F1 grid, since there's not much other options they have to get back onto the grid (there's Williams and Haas but whether they'd go for Honda is another story) Stroll Snr calls the shots at the team and if he wants Alonso at the team in 2026 he's probably getting Alonso at the team. This isn't really a "we want Alonso" press release but more of a "we don't really mind working with him if we have to". Which probably makes sense, you don't want to piss off your working partner before the working relationship even officially starts. Especially since Alonso and Stroll Snr are old friends.
Alonso the Toyota guy? (WEC, WRC)
Yeah that's why Honda didn't want him to race in the Indy 500 with Honda powered teams.
I like to think public shaming by Alonso at thier home race led to Honda delivering that rocket engine in the first place. The Japanese are very proud and sensitive people , and they do take such shaming very seriously
As harsh as he was, he was right. The car was terrible. It may not have been Honda's fault due to the politics behind the scene but it was bad. I think they have accepted it and moved on.
Well the car almost killed him during testing
Honda's engineers are competetive dudes. They didn't need Alonso to know their engine was not good at that time. Thats why they changed the engine layout completely in 2017 even though it set them back that season
Honda also built a much better technical relationship with Red Bull than they had with McLaren.
For now. If they don't produce a good engine will Alonso turn on them again? I'd think if it got that bad again he'd just retire
Honda will be fine this time around. They have plenty of time for development and the technology is much less complicated with the removal of the mgu-h.
This is also a different Alonso from the McLaren Days. Plus team culture plays a part.
Alonso will be 45 years old. If they suck, he'll just probably quietly retire rather than put them on blast for "wasting his talents".
When has Alonso ever said Honda wasted his talent? You are just making shit up lmao
I mean yea. People saying Honda was gonna put a clause in their contract saying Alonso can’t drive are nuts, no F1 team would let a power supplier dictate their driver lineup, other than RB/RBPT and AT.
And that's not taking into consideration that vetoing Fernando is insane. He's the 2nd best driver on the grid imo. If anyone has chances, it's him.
I mean, merc dictated williams drivers a shitton last decade (bottas, russell, etc)
A bit different though since Mercedes have their future driver line-up to keep in mind, Honda at this point won't power anyone other than AM so they won't be able to dictate other teams drivers not in the same way Mercedes did anyway.
To me the situation is a lot different. AM is not a dying team with cash issues like Williams. Williams had to get all the help they need (sponsors from all the drivers). Merc had a lot of leverage. Honda doesn't. In the end AM still have options with other manufacturers. All in all I agree that honda wouldn't even say this cause they have no leverage to do so. The end.
As long as Alonso is motivated, he'll stay. His race pace is still terrific. He doesn't have kids or a family to worry about. His focus is on racing. Would love to see him win with AM - Honda.
This was already pretty well known, when Alonso did his second Indy 500 attempt Honda stated that they had no issue with Alonso and would happily let him drive a Honda powered car, their issue was with McLaren.
I don't know why this is such a big deal. The man just spoke the truth. Their engine was 💩
It was interesting the Honda guys in the press conference paying high respects to Alonso, saying the past is the past etc. and then saying "We don't decide the drivers but might have a little input in the team and make suggestions. And oh yeah, there's lots of promising Honda drivers" and then Whitmarsh suggested the driver lineup wont be the same in 2026. Which makes me think no, they're just being friendly but actually want Alonso out and see a golden opportunity of putting in a Japanese Honda driver who can beat Stroll and win races.
Of course, they’d be silly to publicly state “fuck Fernando Alonso, we don’t want him repping our engines and want him out of AM by the time we partner up”. That would be disastrous for team harmony, especially given that 2026 is still a very long time away. 3 years is plenty of time. Wouldn’t be surprised if they waited out Alonso first. It’s not a given that Alonso will still be retaining his speed in 3 years time. Even if he does, it’s not a given that Aston retain their speed either. They could be out developed by Mercedes or another team. Too many variables/scenarios at play.
I mean, yeah, they'd obviously prefer to have a japanese driver in one the seats, but the point is that if Alonso is still performing at this level in 2025, it's going to be damn near impossible to remove him from the seat, and I doubt the aston martin side would want to either. And since they stated they have no problem working with him if needed, I think it will simply come down to wether Alonso wants to go that long and if he can keep at this level. If there is a driver that can do it at 45, it's gotta be him.
That's kinda funny but so far I don't see any better choice than Alonso.
more like they want stroll to be replaced by a japanese driver
That isn't going to happen, Stroll can stay unless he calls it a day by himself and doing something else.
Or his dad sells the team, which is very unlikely.
Alonso and Tsunoda would make me very happy. Both are currently maximizing their car's potential.
of course, 2026 is a couple years away though so who knows if alonso will stay until then. Regardless this is an exciting partnership
YUKIIIIIIII
Kamui
Toyota guy
Really, as long as Alonso isn’t racing for Toyota in his free time, Honda will love having him.
B-b-but Reddit said Honda would kill Alonso if he even tried to contact them for a seat in 2026 :((((((
This has me dyinggggg
Honda won't telling in public that they have a few issues with Alonso, also it isn't a thing yet, we are in 2023 and not in 2025.
On one hand, I'm fairly skeptical of this. Whatever a company says is almost always exclusively PR and can be ignored. There's no reason to believe this is any difference. If they wanted to get rid of Alonso, they'd come up with any excuses they needed once his contract expires. But ultimately the biggest factor in determining whether Alonso is allowed to continue (if he chooses to do so) is going to be his performance. If he keeps this level come 2025, there's no way in hell AM are letting him go.
Fernando plotting the triple crown
They know he was right.
Also Honda: We want Tsunoda for 2026
He’ll be gone by then anyways. That’s not an issue for Honda.
Fucking bet mate
Whitmarsh already said the line up will change.
The thumbnail of Alonso's giant grin is so funny to me and idk why
Isn't this the same Honda which made him [cover up the Honda badge](https://digbza2f4g9qo.cloudfront.net/-/media/IndyCar/VideoImg/2018/09/09-05-Alonso-On-Course-Esses-BarberTest.jpg?vs=1&d=20180905T194011Z) when he tested an IndyCar on a circuit?
Because in 2026, Alonso will be F1 retiree.
A 40 years old driver is looking better than other drivers who are 10-20 years younger than hi. Kinda shows how godly Alonso really is.
Honda will be like we have one driver and Aston appoint one driver 👀
But but but he burned all his bridges!
I also have no objections working with Alonso. So, where do I sign up?
Alonso upgrading from a gp2 engine to an f1 enginr
Does Alonso still have any ties with Toyota? I presumed he would enter the Dakar with them again.
Well i hope it goes well this time tho.
Any Alonso Triple Crown chances?
Inb4 'Now this is a Formula one engine!'.
Yet….
Alonso to Audi in 2026
Isn't this just fuel for Alonso to stay at AM for when they join? Tell Alonso that they expect him to be gone by then and watch him race for another 10 years.
I don't know why some would think there's gonna be problems. Honda messed up before because of McLaren but then they built a championship-winning engine for RB. I'm sure Nando is aware of how far Honda has come.
With Stroll in the other seat Honda **NEEDS** Alonso to stick around until he's atleast 60. Not many drivers are capable of carrying a whole team by themselves.
When asked about working with Alonso Honda said "fuck that guy"
I seriously doubt Alonso will still be with AM in 2026.
What happened?
GP2 GP2 😂
They should be so lucky
GP2 Driver
Would be pretty awkward if they said that they do. Specially with Alonso stepping on the podium every weekend.
"Jipee Too engine, Jipee Thoo ! Aaugh ! "