After a two-year hiatus due to disillusionment with the sport, Alonso returned at the start of last season with Alpine.
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Fernando Alonso might be the oldest driver on the grid in the 2022 Formula One season but the two-time world champion is here to stay for a few more years. The Spaniard said that he would be racing in F1 for two or three years more. Alonso is currently a driver at Alpine, formerly known as Renault. He is teammates with French driver Esteban Ocon who won the Hungarian GP in 2021. After a two-year hiatus due to disillusionment with the sport, Alonso returned at the start of last season and signed a one-year contract extension with Alpine for this season.
“Obviously if I was 25 there would not be this talk. It’s an age thing that people try to find a way for the young talents. But I think this is about performance,” the Spaniard said. Alonso finished 10th last year in the driver’s championship, one place ahead of his teammate Ocon.
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“Last year, I think I did well. I finished slightly in front of Esteban,” he said. “Let’s see this year how the battle goes. This is about performance, not about age. As I said at the beginning of the year, I still feel competitive and fast, and feel that I am enjoying time in Formula 1. So, I will race, I guess, a couple more years — two or three more years.”
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After finishing ninth in Bahrain in the season opener, Alonso will look to get back in the points at Albert Park on Sunday. With 336 Grand Prix starts since his debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, he is the oldest driver on the current F1 grid, and he has celebrated 98 times on F1 podiums, 32 times as a winner.
The Spaniard would go on to praise Alpine’s reserve driver Oscar Piastri, calling him highly professional and a hard worker. “He is a good guy, and now we see he has the talent, is very professional and hard-working on the simulator and in the factory and all of our meetings. He is still very young. And hopefully, he finds a seat soon,” the veteran racer said.
