KARUN CHANDHOK "Alonso is still fit enough to deliver at the top level"

We’ve had two grands prix since my last column, including the first Sprint race weekend in China.

As you may have read last month, I focused on Carlos Sainz and the position he’s in when it comes to the 2025 driver market. We now know that one of the options in the 2025 driver market jigsaw puzzle has gone into place with Fernando Alonso committing to a fresh two-year deal at Aston Martin.

The prospect of a driver racing well into their forties is really something that we haven’t thought about in modern F1, but Fernando isn’t just any driver. Fernando lives and breathes for driving more than anyone else I know. He hasn’t got a wife or young family to draw him away from the paddock as Sebastian Vettel had, but he also arrived into the sport in 2001 by which point Michael Schumacher had well and truly raised the bar in terms of driver fitness for the likes of Fernando to emulate. This means that even though he will be 45 when this agreements ends, he is still fit enough and mentally focused enough to deliver at the highest level. It’s hugely admirable to see any human being in any type of work seem so motivated after over two decades and I still love watching the onboard videos of Fernando’s opening laps that are filled with the aggression and energy of a 21-year-old.