"The man to dethrone Michael Schumacher; Age has no limits" - F1 world reacts as Fernando Alonso turns 41

Two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso turns 41 years old today and fans took to social media to share their love for the Spaniard. As one of the most beloved drivers on the grid, the Alpine driver received plenty of wishes from his fans across the world and several tributes from fellow drivers, including Carlos Sainz, Zhou Guanyu, and Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon, on social media.

Last weekend at the 2022 French Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso broke the record for most laps raced in an F1 career with a whopping 18,672 since his debut in 2013. If he manages to repeat his previous success by winning another race in his career, he will join the exclusive club of drivers to have won an F1 race in their 40s. Nigel Mansell was the last driver to achieve this back in 1994, where at the Australian Grand Prix, the Briton secured the 31st and final race win of his career.

Fernando Alonso will be returning to the Hungaroring this weekend, a circuit he has pleasant memories of, given that he took his maiden win at the Hungarian Grand Prix back in 2003 and became the youngest driver at the time to win a race. Last season, Esteban Ocon took his maiden race win on the very same circuit for the very same team, Renault, which is now rebranded as Alpine. Alpine will undoubtedly be heading into the upcoming race with high expectations, especially after finally taking fourth place in the Constructor Standings from McLaren last week.

Here are some fan reactions to Fernando Alonso's 41st birthday:

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Fernando Alonso reportedly not opposed to signing with Aston Martin

Given that his contract with Alpine is set to expire at the end of the 2022 season, speculations about Fernando Alonso's plans for the future are rife.

In a media interaction ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Spaniard revealed that any team, now including Aston Martin after Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement at the end of 2022, that does not have two drivers signed, is a considerable option. Alonso said:

“From the beginning of the summer break, it will be the point I need to sit down and conclude something. The summer break starts on Monday. All the teams are an option as long as they don’t have two drivers signed. My priority is to be with Alpine.We’ve been working and developing this project together for two years now. We are more and more competitive. Probably my wish is to stay. But we didn’t sit down completely and move forward with things. So still everything is ongoing.”

He further said:

“I think I am fresh here [in F1], very motivated. I’m looking forward so much into next year, what the second year of these rules will bring. We race in Las Vegas, we race maybe in South Africa. All these things, they are very appealing. I feel very fast this year, last year was a struggle a little bit. But this year I feel at my 100 per cent. Now even thinking about sportscars or IndyCar it’s like ‘not now’. My head is completely ‘remove this’ and stay focused on F1.”

While the two-time world champion is clear that he wants to continue racing in F1, there is very little indication as to which team we will see him driving for next year.