Fernando Alonso’s retirement hint? “Need to decide if I want to keep racing”

Fernando Alonso has been non-committal about his future in Formula 1, as the 2024 season gets underway.

The season-opening race is the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend and Alonso, who first drove in the series 23 years ago, remains a front-runner.

The Aston Martin driver’s contract expires at the end of this season meaning, in 2025 when he will 43, he could seek pastures new at Mercedes or even Red Bull.

“I need to decide if I want to keep racing,” Alonso said in Bahrain.

“That’s the first thing I need to decide, in a few weeks or a few races.

“I feel great now but I know it’s a demanding calendar.

“In 2026 there are different regulations. They may be tempting or not.

“I will wait a few races to decide.”

The two-time champion has already stepped away from F1 once but, after two years away, he returned.

A year ago in Bahrain, Alonso secured a surprise podium finish on his Aston Martin debut.

It heralded a great start to the season for his team although it slowly faded as 2023 went on.

What are Aston Martin’s hopes this year?

“Let’s wait a couple of races,” he said.

“Bahrain is a specific track in terms of characteristics.

“We’ll have to go to Saudi, Australia and maybe Japan to have the order of performance for the teams.

“Everything is delivering as expected.

“Maybe the step from last year to this year is good enough or not? We’ll find out…

“There is a different approach from 2023. We started with a good base but it was a shock to us, how good it was at the beginning.

“We were not a big team, off-track, in terms of developing the car.

“We learned lessons last year.

“To become a contender for the championship in the future, it was an important season.

“This year we start with a good base line, and with a lot of things in the pipeline for the rest of the season.

“It will be interesting to see if we can keep the pace of developing the car.

“We didn’t meet those expectations last year. We want to improve in that regard.”