Fernando Alonso celebrated his 400th Grand Prix start during the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend in what has become an impressive F1 career for the Spaniard. He is the first driver in history to reach the milestone, however, the 43-year-old has not won a race in over a decade and it looks like the wait could be slightly longer at Aston Martin. Heading into the 2025 season, it looks unlikely that the Silverstone-based team will make the significant strives needed to compete at the sharp end of the grid.
Alonso is undoubtedly biding his time before the 2026 season when the team will have the influence of Adrian Newey on their car, with the legendary car designer set to join them in March next year. Regardless of Alonso’s current form, former F1 driver Christian Danner has highlighted one of the main reasons why he thinks the Spaniard is the best suited to the new regulations when speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast. Fernando Alonso ‘always quick’ in every era of F1 he’s competed Throughout the history of F1, there have always been drivers who have excelled in a particular era.
Sebastian Vettel reached his peak during the blown diffusers, Lewis Hamilton dominated the hybrid era, and Michael Schumacher set the bar in the early 00s. READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2Drivers are rarely consistently fast across major regulation changes in F1, but Alonso has always proven his ability to adapt according to Danner. “Every racing driver had his era.
Either there was a match or not. Fangio had a match with his era because he could drive these particular cars more quickly than most of the others,” said Danner. “The only guy that has survived all the changes is Alonso.
Grooved tyres, 2. 7 litre engines, 10 cylinders, eight cylinders, turbos, hybrid engines, Alonso is always quick. He gets a lot of extra points for that.
”Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty ImagesFernando Alonso shares the only thing that Aston Martin is missing to become World ChampionsThere has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes at Aston Martin to ready themselves for the big regulation change in 2026, including the opening of their first wind tunnel building, the switch to Honda engines, and the signing of key backroom staff. Newey is the headline signing, but others including Enrico Cardile from Ferrari and Andy Cowell from Mercedes are all key figureheads in Lawrence Stroll’s plans to compete for championships. READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineageAlonso believes the team has what it takes, the only thing they are missing is experience compared to their rivals.
The Silverstone-based team had only been used to competing in the midfield before it was taken over by Stroll. Alonso anticipates Aston Martin will be learning a lot as they progress, similar to what McLaren has been going through this season.
