Fernando Alonso makes ‘never had dominant car’ claim throughout F1 career

Fernando Alonso has said his motivation to carry on driving in Formula 1 comes from his belief that “I never had a good car that I could dominate something”, aside from his time in the World Endurance Championship.

Alonso extends that claim to his two title-winning seasons in 2005 and 2006, too, believing the McLaren of 2005 to be faster but more unreliable than his Renault, and the 2006 Ferrari driven by Michael Schumacher to be evenly-matched, but unreliability also played its part.

Fernando Alonso makes wish for ‘dominating car’ in Formula 1

Alonso has extended his Aston Martin contract until the end of F1 2026 in the hope of his team making the most of the sport’s massive regulation changes to launch one more title challenge.

Away from Formula 1, he won the WEC title with Toyota during his Formula 1 sabbatical, alongside two outright victories at the fabled 24 Hours of Le Mans and another overall victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019 with Cadillac.

Alonso explained that the start of the 2023 campaign, which saw him back on the podium with a fast-starting Aston Martin, gave him added impetus to carry on in Formula 1, but claimed he has not had an extended period in his illustrious career whereby he has had the outright fastest car on the grid.

When asked on the Chequered Flag podcast what gives him the continued motivation to compete, Alonso said: “I think because I never had a good car that I could dominate something, apart from my season in [the] World Endurance Championship with the Toyota that I had the best car.

“That season, I realised how wonderful it could be to have a dominating car in Formula 1 as well, because you could achieve so many results, and you can drive as you wish.

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“All my career, I’ve been driving cars that they were maybe not the best in that moment, even my two World Championships.

“I think in 2005 the McLaren was the fastest car, but reliability was bad, so we compensated with that, and we won the championship.

“And then in 2006 they were very, very similar, but I think the Ferrari and Michael [Schumacher] had a little bit too many DNFs, especially in Japan at the end of the year, and then I won the championship.

“So even in my championship seasons, I didn’t have probably the best car.

“I keep delivering, and I keep motivated, and I’m not driving in circles, because every year I still have the hope that that will be the season that I could have a fast car.

“Last year [2023], we had a little bit of that at the beginning of the year, we had the second-best car, and I had these six podiums in the first eight races, but that was just a touch of what we can do if we have a competitive car.

“And we only had it for eight races, but that will happen as soon as we have, again, another fast car.”

Alonso has admitted he is approaching the final year of his contract as it stands, the F1 2026 season, as his final year in Formula 1, with the sport’s regulation changes set to come into effect.

When asked if the moments of extra speed in his career, as was the case in early 2023, had whetted the appetite for him to continue, Alonso replied: “Yeah, exactly.

“I think from time to time, I have these moments of having a more or less competitive car – not the best, but more or less – and just with that, I have again fuel for another four or five years,” he concluded with a laugh.

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