Alonso Heads to Lunch With Stroll Over 2027 Future
No deadline, no ultimatum, just lunch. Fernando Alonso is about to decide his Formula 1 future over coffee with the man who owns the team.
Fernando Alonso says talks over his Aston Martin future are now looming, just as the team's heavily revised Honda-powered package showed fresh problems at Zandvoort.
The 45-year-old Spaniard had previously indicated a decision would come around the summer. He now says there is no firm deadline at all.
When will Alonso decide on 2027?
"I just got back from vacation, so I'll just see how things go over the next few days or weeks," said Alonso.
"Lawrence (Stroll) is here this weekend, so I'm going to go have a nice lunch and coffee with him."
Alonso says discussions could also continue at Monza, or back at the factory with Adrian Newey.
"I also have to stop by the factory again to practice Madrid on the simulators, so maybe if Lawrence or Adrian are there then," he explained.
"Maybe in the coming weeks."
Why the relaxed tone matters
A driver being pushed towards the exit does not usually talk about lunch. The absence of a deadline suggests both sides expect this to be a conversation rather than a negotiation, although Alonso has never been shy about walking away when a project stops convincing him.
What went wrong with the new Honda package?
His future talks come as Aston Martin ran a revised power unit at Zandvoort and confirmed a performance gain. Alonso said Sprint qualifying then exposed multiple drivability problems.
"They were handling issues, as the engine was pushing hard on the straights and it was difficult to brake the car because of what seemed to be an over-delivery situation," he said.
The active aerodynamics also malfunctioned, leaving Alonso dead last.
Is the upgrade still a step forward?
Alonso thinks so. He simply does not believe the team understands it yet.
"It's a step forward, but it's early days, we haven't been working on it for very long, and perhaps everything is a bit immature," said Alonso.
"And being a sprint weekend, you don't have the three practice sessions of other Grands Prix, and you can't perfect the package before experiencing a situation like qualifying."
That is the trade-off of the Dutch Grand Prix sprint format: introduce something ambitious and you find out in public, with no time to fix it.
What does Honda say?
Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara confirmed the engine itself delivered what was expected.
"We introduced the Spec 2 power unit for the first time and we were able to confirm the performance improvement over Spec 1 in today's run," said the Japanese.
"We also found that there are still areas for improvement, particularly regarding the data settings related to drivability."
Translated: the power is there, the calibration is not. That is a solvable problem, and a far better one to have than a slow engine.
Whether it is solvable quickly enough to keep a 45-year-old two-time champion interested is the question Stroll gets asked over lunch.
Related: Aston Martin Lands New Investor as Alonso Future Looms
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I've zero doubts.