Well that was unexpected. Why sign so early when there are still top seats open?
Merc probably wouldnt have been an Option for him, that means he didnt think RBR would hire him either? or he thinks RBR will fail the 26 regulations, and Aston/Honda are the better bet.
I imagine RBR would probably only offer him a one year deal, if they even want him. Merc doesn’t seem that attractive at the moment since they’re still struggling to understand the current regs, and Ferrari and McLaren have their drivers locked in. So makes sense to stay with the 4th best team right now.
I guess Merc wants a seat warmer for Antonelli, rbr doesn’t want a civil war, anyone else is locked in
The only attractive thing about Merc is that they did once nail a new engine regulation and subsequently dominated. I’m not sure Alonso even wants to take the gamble on them repeating that, and everything else about them currently doesn’t inspire confidence. They’ve clearly struggled to understand the current regulations, and three years in a row with constant grave correlation errors is a huge red flag.
As for RBR, they probably aren’t interested, honestly. They don’t want someone challenging Max, they just want a stable number two. If anything, they’d also probably want someone younger than Checo to hopefully have a stable nr.2 for the rest of the duration of Max’s contract.
Also, I’m not even sure Alonso would want to go there. I think he knows Max is better than him, and I don’t think he would want to go there and be consistently beaten. He needs to luck into a car that is better than Max’s, and of the options open Aston is really the best. They’ll be a Honda works team for 2026 and Honda is the reigning constructors champions’ engine provider. That’s got to be the year he’s essentially gambling on with this contract.
Would he have a chance for the championship at red bull? No. McLaren isn’t even an option? Mercedes? Number 2 driver. No room at Ferrari. Aston best case scenario. Maybe they nail it.
Hate to say it but at his age he’s probably just glad he gets to keep racing. Even if he had to drive a backmarker I bet he’d just keep doing it for the hell of it.
Say what you want about Alonso but he is pretty die-hard for the sport.
I mean, he did retire in 2018 when McLaren was a backmarker
I dunno, Kimi was like that for a long time up until he finally retired, but I get the sense being competitive is much more important to Alonso. The last couple of years he’s repeatedly said he’ll bow out once he feels he can’t perform anymore, and I believe him.
ALO must really have faith in Aston’s progress in the upcoming years.
Where does that leave SAI? Maybe an all Spanish line-up at Aston? (Assuming that PER keeps his seat at Red Bull if he continues his current form)
Sauber. Shit 2025, then Audi’s no. 1 in 2026.
