You’ll be able to rule Fernando Alonso out as a candidate to exchange Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.
Aston Martin introduced Thursday that Alonso had re-signed with the workforce via the 2026 season. The contract will carry Alonso, 42, via his age-45 season as he turns 43 in July.
Mercedes is searching for a driver to associate with George Russell subsequent season after Hamilton’s beautiful 2025 transfer to Ferrari was introduced earlier than the 2024 season started. The seven-time champion, 39, has pushed a Mercedes-powered automotive for the whole lot of his F1 profession and has pushed for Mercedes’ manufacturing unit workforce since 2013.
Alonso, the oldest driver on the grid, received the F1 title in 2005 and 2006 whereas driving with Renault. He hasn’t received an F1 race since 2013, although he’s proven critical pace at Aston Martin since returning to F1 in 2021 after two seasons away.
The 2-time champion completed fourth within the factors standings a season in the past and had eight podium finishes in 22 races. He’s presently eighth within the standings with a median end that’s solely barely worse than his common end a season in the past. He’s additionally been considerably sooner than teammate Lance Stroll over the previous three seasons as Aston Martin makes an attempt to problem Crimson Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes on the prime of F1.
Mercedes’ seek for Hamilton’s substitute is prone to proceed into the summer time and may very well be contingent on Max Verstappen’s Crimson Bull future. Verstappen is signed via 2026 as Crimson Bull is way and away the quickest workforce on the grid. Nevertheless, inner turmoil on the workforce may make Verstappen determine to get out of his contract early and Mercedes workforce principal Toto Wolff has made it clear that he’d like to have Verstappen on his workforce.
If Verstappen isn’t a critical candidate for Mercedes, the workforce may look to pending free agent Carlos Sainz — the person Hamilton is changing at Ferrari — or 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli. {The teenager} is a junior driver for Mercedes and is presently competing in Formulation 2.
