Fernando Alonso has confirmed that his Formula 1 future does not rely on Aston Martin’s upcoming upgrade, which team boss Adrian Newey hopes will convince him to stay.
The Silverstone outfit has endured a horrible start to the 2026 regulations with just one point across the opening eight rounds and at times being one second behind the rest.
A large part of that is down to Aston not fitting any immediate upgrades as it is instead focusing on a larger update package for Hungary to improve its overweight AMR26.
So the situation has prevented Alonso from showcasing his abilities and with the 44-year-old’s contract expiring at the end of 2026, his future remains up in the air.
That was put to Newey in an interview with Aston earlier this week and the legendary designer is hoping that the upgrade will convince the double F1 champion to stay for 2027 and beyond.
“Fernando is really looking forward to the upgrade and, if it performs, we hope he’ll be in the cockpit for another season,” claimed Newey.
“Given his experience, his feel for the car, his ability to guide development, he’s a tremendous asset. But he wants to see clear, tangible progress. If we can show that we’re moving decisively in the right direction, he’s absolutely committed to being behind the wheel.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
But Alonso has denied that his future depends on the upgrade, before confirming that he will make a decision during the summer break that immediately follows the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“I cannot say that it’s really connected,” said Alonso ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix. “Because if the car is good or bad, there are other factors that I need to think about.”
The Spaniard still confirmed that Aston’s upgrade is particularly important for its 2027 fortunes, whether he is in the car or not, as teams start to look at next year’s development.
“It is important to see the direction that we took and all the time that we took as well since Bahrain, he added. “The team made the decision to wait for a proper package to be introduced whenever it was. We didn’t know if it was race seven or race 12 or at the end of the year.
“But we knew that this is our starting place and position. This is not good enough. We are lacking downforce, power, gearbox, experience, all these kind of things.
“So, we need to make a study, we need to regroup and we need to make a plan. For me it’s important to feel in Hungary that we are understanding what are the weaknesses of the car and we are tackling them.
“Especially on the aero package, that is the first one that is coming. We are struggling with very specific things this year behind the wheel.
“If those are improved in Hungary and we can drive the car to maximum, then I think there is a very clear path and a good momentum that we can take for next year. So that’s for me the most important thing.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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