Fernando Alonso's future and possible retirement discussed by the Spaniard's manager

Fernando Alonso's manager Flavio Briatore has admitted that he's not sure how long the Spaniard continues to race in F1. The Italian has been with Alonso ever since Alonso started racing. He was his team boss at Renault and with him, he won multiple titles in 2005 and 2006.

After Fernando Alonso moved to McLaren in 2007, Flavio Briatore was back in the management role for the driver. There was also a certain level of infammy involved as well as Flavio was found to have an involvement in the Crashgate scandal.

Fernando Alonso however has continued racing and is now in his 40s and still one of the best in F1. This was evident last season when Alonso was a perennial podium contender in the Aston Martin and scored a ton of points. The Spaniard has recently signed a contract extension with the Silverstone-based team that takes him to the end of the 2026 season.

Whether he continues to race beyond that is still not clear and the question was put forward to Flavio in his latest appearance on the Formula for Success podcast. Flavio himself admitted that while Alonso has not long anything in terms of ability it is hard to predict what he will do next. He said,

“I don’t know [about his future]. I believe [at Spa], for example, he was very smart. He did one pit stop and this was the way to go, because of his experience. If you ask me if Fernando wants to continue after we finish in the contract, our last year will be 2026 for the moment. What he wants to do after, I don’t know. Does he want to continue for one more year?"

Flavio commends Fernando Alonso's commitment and motivation

Flavio Briatore did however commend Fernando Alonso for the level of performance he's shown even at his advanced age. The Spaniard took some time off from F1 after 2018 and made a comeback in 2021. Even after his comeback, the driver has confirmed to be a special talent with results that turned heads. Talking about the Spaniard, Flavio said,

“The performance is there. You see the performance of Fernando, it’s there. It’s not a question of him losing concentration, during the race he’s always there. If he’s 11th, he wants to be 10th. If he’s 10th, he want to be ninth. He wants the car to be competitive. He’s qualifying well, he’s racing well."

He added,

“I don’t know, honestly, if he wants to stop with 2026 as his last year or if he wants to go ahead. Honestly, I don’t know. It depends on the feeling he has about racing and the timing, I don’t know if he’ll have a family at the time and whatever."

With Aston Martin on a hiring spree that has seen some very impressive talent join, has Fernando Alonso finally found the right team? We'll have to wait and see because the 2026 F1 season could be a very interesting one for the Spaniard with the new regulations.