Aston Martin team principal addresses Fernando Alonso's uncertain future: "He first of all wants to decide for himself"

Aston Martin's team principal has addressed the uncertainty surrounding Fernando Alonso's future and said that he wants to give the Spaniard the time to decide for himself. Alonso has been in F1 for more than 2 decades. In this time, the driver has been able to put together an impressive resume.

He was the youngest F1 world champion when he first won the title in 2005. Alonso won the title again in 2006, his last title since then. The Spaniard saw a career revival of sorts when Aston Martin made a giant leap towards the front of the grid last year. Alonso was a consistent podium contender for the team in the first half as well.

In the second half, however, Aston Martin's upgrade packages struggled to keep up. The team was overhauled by McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari and ended up finishing only P5.

In 2024, Fernando Alonso's contract expires, and the Spaniard has admitted that he has still not made up his mind on whether he wants to continue racing.

Talking about Alonso and his future, Mike Krack, Team Principal for Aston Martin, admitted that for now, Aston Martin was intent on giving the Spaniard his space as he makes a call on his future. He also made it clear that the team wanted to continue working with Fernando in the future as well.

Krack told Motorsport.com:

“It's not a secret that he first of all wants to decide for himself what he wants to do. And I think it's also not a secret that I keep saying that we want to continue working with Fernando. And I also said that the most important thing is that we give him a quick car."

He added:

"So that he believes in this project, and that he believes in this team, and everything else we will have to discuss over the weeks to come. Now, it is clear that a driver of that calibre is attractive for everybody, but we will try to keep him.”

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Mike Krack commends Fernando Alonso's race in Jeddah

Mike Krack had complimentary words to say about Fernando Alonso's race in Jeddah. The Spanish driver held off George Russell for most of the race after the first round of pitstops. Alonso had a brilliant qualifying as well. He was passed by Oscar Piastri early in the race and eventually finished behind him.

Complimenting the Spaniard for beating George Russell, Krack said:

“It was quite strong. We knew George was behind, he had good speed, and we did not want to let him into the DRS. So it was all the time between 1.5 and 1.0 seconds in between them."

He added:

“And then it is always how much do I manage, and how much do I push to get to the end? But I think he managed it like probably nobody else can. I don't know where he got the gaps from. In my opinion he was always on top of the situation.”

Fernando Alonso's future is still up in the air with a seat at Red Bull still open. It will be interesting to see if Aston Martin can show a level of improvement that could persuade the Spaniard to stay with the team.