Fernando Alonso is not ready to commit to another season of Formula 1. The 45-year-old Aston Martin driver, out of contract at the end of 2025, wants to see how Honda's new power unit performs when it makes its race debut at the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break before properly weighing his future.

It is a decision with real stakes. Alonso has spent 25 years in the sport — a stretch that included a two-season sabbatical starting in 2018 — and Aston Martin's hierarchy, now led by Adrian Newey, are keen to keep him. Newey, who formally became Team Principal of Aston Martin in 2026 after joining the team as Managing Technical Partner in March 2025, described Alonso as "an amazing driver who brings huge amounts to the team in both his feedback and his ability." Newey added that he is "pretty confident" Alonso is enjoying his time at the team and that the relationship will continue, as reported in a BBC F1 Q&A column published on 28 July 2026.

The timing of Alonso's wait is no coincidence. Aston Martin's 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, which ran from 24 to 26 July at the Hungaroring — the circuit's 40th anniversary — marked the debut of a major car upgrade delivering roughly two seconds per lap of improvement through aerodynamic changes and weight-saving. The result was immediate: Alonso progressed out of Q1 (the first qualifying session, where the five slowest drivers are eliminated) for the first time all season. According to the BBC, it was the first upgrade in three years that proved Aston Martin's factory could deliver developments that actually worked on track.

But the car is only half the equation. Aston Martin believes the current Honda power unit — the engine that drives the car — sits approximately 1.5 seconds per lap behind the best in the field. The new Honda engine, arriving after the summer break at Zandvoort, is expected to close about a third of that gap. For Alonso, who previously endured Honda's difficult years at McLaren from 2015 to 2017, the upgrade will tell him whether Aston Martin can genuinely fight at the front or whether another year would mean more of the same.

Newey's own position adds weight to the pitch. Lawrence Stroll, the team's owner, has publicly described Newey as his "partner" — Newey is also a shareholder in the team — and his remit as Team Principal covers both the technical programme and trackside operations. It is the first time the legendary designer has held the Team Principal role in Formula 1.

For Alonso, the calculation is straightforward enough. He has driven enough seasons to know that promises mean little and lap times mean everything. The Honda engine will either close the gap or it will not, and that answer will shape whether one of the longest careers in Formula 1 history stretches into one more year.