Nico Rosberg sends clear Fernando Alonso warning after F1 retirement hint

Fernando Alonso has hinted that he will retire at the end of F1 2026
F1 2016 World Champion and former Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg says it is “difficult to imagine” Fernando Alonso stepping away from Formula 1 .
And he has warned the Aston Martin star that it is “very difficult” to adjust to life after F1 after Alonso revealed that F1 2026 is set to be his last season.
Nico Rosberg warns Fernando Alonso over ‘overwhelming’ F1 retirement
Alonso stands as the most experienced driver in F1 history, having made more than 400 appearances since his debut in 2001.
The Spaniard is also one of the most decorated drivers to have graced the sport with two World Championships and 32 race victories to his name.
However, Alonso remains without a win since his penultimate season with Ferrari in 2013 with F1 2025 marking the 20th anniversary of the first of his consecutive title triumphs with Renault.
Driving style analysis: The genius of Fernando Alonso
??Revealed: Fernando Alonso’s secret weapon in battles with F1 rivals
??From ‘GP2 engine’ to ‘karma’ – 10 of our favourite Fernando Alonso team radio messages
Alonso announced last April that he will remain with Aston Martin until at least the end of the F1 2026 season – by which time he will be 45 – having agreed a multi-year contract extension with the Silverstone-based team.
Yet the veteran recently cast doubt over his future, admitting that he will treat 2026 as his last season before retirement.
He told the Chequered Flag podcast:?“Probably – or at least to start with – it will be my last season in Formula 1 because my contract finishes at the end of 2026, so it’s the time of delivering and the time of truth. High expectations.
“I will start the season thinking like that, for sure, because I cannot think too much in the future.
“At the moment, my current contract is for two more years. With my age, my motivation, I don’t know how it’s going to be.
“If the 2026 season is running smoothly and we’re having a good time and there is a possibility to race one more year, I will be open, for sure.
“I will not close the door beforehand, but I will not start [the season] thinking that.
“I will take every race if it was my last race and I will enjoy every second.”
Alonso’s comments came after Flavio Briatore, his long-serving manager and executive adviser of the Alpine F1 team, admitted last summer that 2026 will be “our last year for the moment” with the driver set to decide if he “wants to continue for one more year.”
Rosberg retired from F1 at the age of 31 at the end of the 2016 season, just five days after beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to that year’s World Championship.
And he was warned Alonso that it can be “overwhelming” to adjust to a new life after retiring from F1.
Asked if it was challenging to accept that his career was over, he told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport: “Yes, it is very difficult.
“You go from an intense, structured lifestyle to having total freedom, which – incredibly – can seem overwhelming.
“I was lucky because I was able to take the opportunity to throw myself into new projects, but it’s different for everyone.
“Fernando’s love for racing is so deep that it is difficult to imagine him away from the track.”
Alonso previously took a two-year sabbatical from F1 at the end of the 2018 season following a challenging spell with McLaren, winning the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours race with Toyota as well as competing in the Dakar Rally.
He also participated in the Indianapolis 500 three times between 2017 and 2020, achieving a best finish of 21st.
In a recent appearance on the Spanish-language podcast Asi Empece, Alonso revealed that he is aiming to win the Dakar Rally when his F1 career is over, with a switch to rallying attracting his interest.
He said: “One of the challenges I still have to win is the Dakar Rally – or rallies in general.
‘In rallying, you have a co-driver next to you who tells you the route, but you also have to have both feet on the pedal for almost the entire stage because that’s how you stabilise the rally cars. And you have to play with the weight when cornering and braking.
‘It’s a completely different technique than in formula cars, because if you do that there, you burn up your brakes and use a lot of fuel.
“And what’s more, the car doesn’t move because of the weight, but because of the aerodynamics.
“I love racing. I’ve had a steering wheel in my hand since I was three years old.
“Now I’m 43, so I’ve been driving for 40 years. I don’t think it will be possible to just quit overnight and never drive again.”
Alonso went on to claim that his F1 sabbatical made him a better driver by forcing him to adjust to the challenges of different categories of motorsport.
He added: “It enriched me as a driver because I had to learn from the best in each series. I didn’t have a comfort zone, but had to learn everything from scratch, just like at school.
‘It was interesting. When I stop with Formula 1, the Dakar or another championship will awaken this passion for learning.”
Last summer, veteran F1 commentator Peter Windsor claimed that an unnamed Formula 1 star had been testing a rally car “in massive secrecy” with a view to a potential future switch to off-road competition.
Windsor went on to confirm that Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver and reigning World Champion, was not involved.
Most assumed that the driver in question was then-Sauber star Valtteri Bottas, who memorably participated in the 2018 Arctic Lapland Rally behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta WRC, the same car driven in competition by eight-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier in 2017/18.
Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com, however, Bottas confirmed that he was not the one spotted behind the wheel of a rally car.
Asked if he was driver at the centre of the rumours, Bottas told media including PlanetF1.com at the Dutch Grand Prix: “No, it’s not actually! The last test I did with a rally car, I think, was last year or the year before.
“It’s someone else.”
Read next:?Christian Horner exclusive: Red Bull future update after ‘very challenging’ year