Fernando Alonso issues clear response to rumours of impeding F1 retirement

Fernando Alonso has made it clear that he is not about to retire from Formula 1, following rumours suggesting otherwise.

Alonso enjoyed the start of dreams to F1 2023 following his switch to Aston Martin, making the podium five times in the opening six grands prix.

However, things have taken a major turn for the worse in the second-half of the season, Alonso without a podium since the Dutch Grand Prix as Aston Martin continue to fall backwards.

Fernando Alonso is not retiring from Formula 1 yet

Instead of pushing for the victory which Alonso felt was on its way, Aston Martin have been out-developed by Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, with the Silverstone squad more recently battling for points rather than podiums, with upgrades introduced at the US Grand Prix yet to help their cause.

And following the Mexican Grand Prix, which marked back-to-back DNFs for Alonso, rumours began swirling that the two-time World Champion was ready to call time on his Aston Martin and Formula 1 career.

However, Alonso has now moved to clarify that this is not the case.

Asked byFox Sports Mexicoif his F1 career is approaching its end, Alonso replied: “For now, no.

“I know I’m in the closing part of my career, but for now, I don’t see it. I don’t have a date to put an end to my career.”

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It is undoubtedly a major boost for Aston Martin’s recovery mission to have Alonso still on board and committed, though the scale of the challenge is already daunting after losing such significant ground to their early-season rivals.

And if Aston Martin do not achieve a quick turnaround in form, then 2015 Le Mans LMP2 class winner Richard Bradley fears some “P45s” will be issued.

Appearing on theOn Track GP podcast, Bradley said: “They’re going to have a serious, serious winter otherwise a lot of people are going to have their heads rolling and getting a few P45s I think.”

Aston Martin boss Mike Krack pinned their decline on following the wrong route with their upgrades due to misleading data, so while Bradley says the team “have to” make progress, he feels this is going to complicate their recovery efforts further.

“But then again, next year’s changes aren’t that dramatic so how much can you actually find,” he added.

“If you’ve gone down a path with a philosophy, unless you completely change the philosophy and then you’ve got all the issues that come with having to learn that, to be this bad at this stage they’re in quite big trouble.”

Alonso has fallen to fifth in theDrivers’ Championship, while Aston Martin are slipping away from McLaren after relinquishing P5 in the Constructors’ Championship to the Woking squad.

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