Fernando Alonso names 'hardest thing' in deciding to remain in F1

Fernando Alonso has detailed the "hardest thing" he had to reckon with whilst making his decision over his future in F1.

Alonso, the two-time world champion, announced on Tuesday that he would be staying with Aston Martin for the 2027 season, his 24th in grand prix racing. 

By the end of it, he could be on 472 grand prix starts, or 39.46% of every world championship grand prix run, and also become the first 46-year-old to compete since Maurice Trintignant at the 1964 French GP. 

However, Alonso's decision to stay comes as he wrestled with the decision given his loathing of the current generation of cars, which he has claimed are not challenging to drive, and that the "chef" or even Aston Martin's press officer could drive, and that fast corners have been reduced to "charging stations" for the "battery world championship."

It was these push factors Alonso had to weigh up against the pull of staying in F1, as he explained.

"That's a good question because that was the hardest thing for me," Alonso said when asked by BBC Sport how he could square continuing on in a championship he currently doesn't enjoy. 

"This year, there have been some good races and some bad races. Maybe some of the shorter circuits that you had the battery until the braking point are changing the way you perceive the driving.

"And some of the circuits like Silverstone, Spa, Suzuka, they were very bad, you know, because they derate and things like that.

"Maybe even for next year they can tweak the battery power a little bit to have a little bit maybe less battery for longer or something like that because F1 at the moment is not natural driving.

"Reaching the top speed in the middle of the straight goes against the driver's instinct of braking late and going on power earlier. 

"It seems that if you want to drive these cars fast, you end up going slower and that's not the way it should be."

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Alonso as elder statesman

Alonso, who has competed in nearly 40% of every F1 world championship grand prix ever, and won 32 times, gained 106 podiums, and is one of four active world champions, believes that he has "some responsibility to help the sport" correct course.

"It does help that the sport keeps chasing ideas and talking to the drivers and the teams (about) how to make things better, even for the next set of regulations," he said.

"This gives me also some hope that I will enjoy the driving more next year than I did this year."