Briatore in the dark about Alonso's plans after 2026

If there's one person in the paddock who should have a strong idea about what Fernando Alonso will do after the end of his current contract, it's surely Flavia Briatore - but even he is in the dark.

Currently 42 and the oldest driver on the grid by some margin over Lewis Hamilton, Alonso made headlines when he signed a contract with Aston Martin that will keep him racing in F1 until the end of 2026.

He's made a record 391 Grand Prix starts since his debut in the 2001 Australian Grand Prix with Minardi, going on to claim back-to-back world championships in 2005 and 2006 with Benetton (subsequently Renault, then Lotus, now Alpine).

That was when the team was run by Flavio Briatore, who was then and continues to this day to be Alonso's manager. It means that the 74-year-old Italian, recently appointed as an 'advisor' to his old team, should have the inside track.

But even he admits that it's unclear whether Alonso would be looking to extend his tenture at Aston even further, or whether he might finally want to call it a day by then and look for new challenges elsewhere.

• Read also: Aston must enjoy process of becoming ‘a big team’, says Alonso

“I don’t know,” Briatore told the Formula For Success podcast when asked what the outlook was for Alonso beyond his current commitment to Aston.

Briatore felt there was certainly no sign of Alonso physically flagging. When it come to race craft and strategy Briatore felt Alonso was actually sharper than ever, as his run to eighth place in the Belgian GP at Spa demonstrated

"He was very smart," Briatore said of Alonso's most recent outing before the summer break. "He did one pit stop and this was the way to go, because of his experience.

“So the performance is there. You see the performance of Fernando, it’s there. It’s not a question of him losing concentration, during the race he’s always there," Briatore pointed out.

“If he’s 11th, he wants to be tenth. If he’s tenth, he want to be ninth. He wants the car to be competitive. He’s qualifying well, he’s racing well."

All of which means that Briatore leans to the idea that Alonso is far from done with F1 yet, any more than F1 is done with Alonso.

“If you ask me if Fernando wants to continue after we finish in the contract," he said. "Our last year will be 2026 for the moment; what he wants to do after, I don’t know.

"Does he want to continue for one more year?" he asked. “It depends on the feeling he has about racing and the timing, I don’t know if he’ll have a family at the time and whatever.

“But for sure, he is unique," Briatore insisted. "I’ve never seen somebody like that. So determined: every day, every day, every day, never give up.

“He’s super fit, maybe more fit now than when he was driving for me. He’s living in Monaco. I know he’s doing a bicycle ride every day, he’s doing 60, 70, 80 kilometres every day.

“He goes to the gym every day. Every time we go to dinner he’s very, very careful. He’s never cheating with the food. He’s unbelievable.”

Alonso revealed at the start of the season that his recent medical tests had placed him at peak fitness, actually even better than at any previous time in his 24 years in the sport.

In Briatore's view, Alonso has more in common with a hungry young rookie than he does an elder statesman of the sport, and believes that this is the secret to getting inside the veteran driver's head.

“Fernando is very difficult to understand because Fernando is still motivated like a young driver," he said. “I’ve been managing Fernando Alonso for 22 years now - we’ve had 22 years of marriage!"

The most intriguing question is what Alonso will do with all those years of experience and knowledge once he hangs up his helmet. A racing brain like that surely wont be content watching the racing from the hospitality lounge?

In recent times Alonso has spoken of seeing out his time at Aston and potentially moving into a management or consultancy role.

But with Briatore's recent return to Enstone, a new possibility has perhaps presented itself with a return for Alonso to the team where he secured his two world titles as part of an initiative to Make Alpine Great Again.

With such tantalising prospects awaiting Alonso, here are few sporting greats of whom you can believe that their eventual retirement might be just the start of even greater things to come.

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