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Fernando Alonso remains undecided on his F1 future after putting together another stunning drive in Japan that saw him finish sixth. Alonso had a brilliant race in Suzuka, where he ended up toying with younger drivers Oscar Piastri and George Russell at the end of the race, over the weekend.
After the final round of pitstops, Alonso was followed by Piastri and Russell. Russell's Mercedes had fresher tires, while Piastri's were one lap younger than Alonso's. In the final stint, the Spaniard kept the Australian in his DRS zone so Russell could not pass the two.
Thanks to this strategy that required great precision, Fernando Alonso ended the race ahead of both drivers in an Aston Martin that was arguably slower than the McLaren and Mercedes. Despite all of this, though, his future continues to be uncertain as his current contract concludes at the end of this year.
He is yet to take a call on whether he wants to continue with Aston Martin, go to a different team, or even retire altogether. Speaking to the media after the race, Fernando Alonso continued to be non-committal as he pointed out the gap between him and Max Verstappen, who won the race.
As quoted by PlanetF1.com, he said when asked if races like these gave him a helping hand when thinking about his future:
“It goes either way. I had a lot of fun, which is great to keep on racing. I had one of my best weekends ever I think driving, and I’m 44 seconds behind the leader. It doesn’t feel attractive in the same time, so let’s see.”
Fernando Alonso looks back at his race execution
Fernando Alonso also reflected his race execution and felt that the F1 Japanese GP was one of his best weekends. The driver outqualified Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes drivers, all of whom were quicker than the Aston Martin.
Even in the race, Alonso was able to fend off these drivers and finish ahead.
“I think it was one of my best races, or my best weekends," Alonso said. "I think it was very complete and very strong, very solid since free practice to the race, maybe the best of the last year or maybe even top five of my career. But it’s going to be completely anonymous. Everyone will forget by tomorrow this weekend that we had.”
He added:
“But I felt connected with the car, I think P5 yesterday that is completely out of position and P6 today is completely out of position. We are definitely slower than Red Bull and Ferrari, they are in another league at the moment, but I think McLaren and Mercedes are faster than us. Mercedes did experiment a little bit with the car, the starting tyre today and a little bit bold strategy, but thanks to that we capitalised and gained that position.”
