Fernando Alonso set to sign contract extension with Aston Martin - Reports

Fernando Alonso reportedly has a new contract extension to sign with Aston Martin, locking him in with the team until the end of the 2025 F1 season. The Spaniard joined the team in the 2023 season, filling in Sebastian Vettel's vacant seat.

To much surprise, the team had a very positive development over the earlier winter break, creating a car that finished on the podium eight times throughout the long season. Amazingly, Fernando Alonso had all eight podiums to his name. Furthermore, Alonso managed to score 206 points, a whopping 132 more than his teammate Lance Stroll.

With such an amazing and competitive performance, it is apparent why Aston Martin would want to extend his contract. As reported by Motorsport Italy, a year's contract extension has been made available to the 42-year-old. If signed, he will be with the team till the end of the 2025 season. While this contract is seemingly good for him, given the team continues its upward development, there might be some more expectations from him. The first of which is obviously for him to remain competitive at the top of the grid.

For a major portion of the season initially, Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin was the second fastest driver behind both the dominating Red Bulls before losing out on the performance periodically mid-season.

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How did Fernando Alonso's performance compare to his teammate Lance Stroll?

In a season where Aston Martin finished in fifth place with almost four times the points compared to the 2022 F1 season, it has been said that there was potential for much more.

Fernando Alonso defied all expectations, finishing P3 thrice consecutively at the start of the season. At the same time, his teammate Lance Stroll finished P6, followed by a retirement in the second race, and then a P4 finish. By the end of the season, he had zero podiums to his name and only 74 points. While this was certainly a big improvement for Stroll compared to the previous season, the question of his performance still arises considering the car had a lot more potential.

Given the fact that Lance Stroll had just recovered from a major injury at the start of the season, his performance was appreciable, but as the season progressed, he didn't quite perform as well as his teammate. If he had performed half as well as Fernando Alonso, the team could have had a total of 309 points and would have finished in fourth place, well ahead of McLaren.