Three points in 2026, and Alonso still signs on at Aston Martin for 2027
Alonso will turn 46 during his next season, Stroll commits for the long term, and reserve Jak Crawford misses out on a race seat
Fernando Alonso will race for Aston Martin in 2027. The team confirmed on Tuesday that both Alonso and Lance Stroll have signed new contracts, keeping the line-up unchanged for a fifth consecutive season. Alonso turns 46 during that season, and he will still be the oldest driver on the grid.
“Racing is my life, my passion, and I know I still have the speed and determination to compete at the highest level,” Alonso said in the team’s announcement. He added that he took his time before making the decision.
Three points after fifteen rounds
The timing says a lot about how much Alonso believes in the project, because 2026 has been hard. Aston Martin is last in the constructors’ championship with 3 points after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, all of them scored by Alonso, who is 19th in the drivers’ standings. Stroll has yet to score. The full tables are on our F1 standings 2026 page.
Formula1.com described Alonso’s extension as uncertain given that form. Only five days ago in Baku, Alonso himself would not commit to Formula 1 for 2027 and kept the door open to “other categories”, as we wrote in our piece on Alonso and the Aston Martin Valkyrie in the WEC. Tuesday’s announcement answers the Formula 1 half of that question.
Stroll commits for the long term
Lance Stroll starts his 11th Formula 1 season in 2027, all but his first two with the team that became Aston Martin. “I’ve been on this journey since the beginning and I believe we have the resources and the people to become a winning team,” he said. Executive chairman Lawrence Stroll, his father, said that having two drivers with their level of experience, commitment and knowledge “provides tremendous value”.
According to Formula1.com, the pair have 644 Grand Prix starts between them, the most experienced line-up on the grid. The decision also closes the door on a 2027 race seat for reserve driver Jak Crawford, RACER notes.
Four seats left on the 2027 grid
With Aston Martin settled, Formula1.com counts four seats that are still open for next season. Haas is one of the teams still to decide: team principal Ayao Komatsu has said a decision on Esteban Ocon’s future will come within the next couple of weeks, with Ferrari junior Rafael Câmara widely tipped for the seat.
Our doubt: continuity is safe, but is it enough?
We understand the logic. Aston Martin has invested heavily in its factory, in Adrian Newey, who joined in 2025, and in its works partnership with Honda, and it wants drivers who can give clear feedback while the car is still being sorted out. Alonso is the best in the business at that. But three points in fifteen races is not a small problem, and keeping the same two drivers also means nobody new is being brought through for the moment the team hopes to win. If 2027 brings the step Aston Martin has been promising, Alonso will be ready to use it. If it does not, the team will have spent another year without a plan for what comes after him.
Is keeping Alonso and Stroll the right call for Aston Martin, or should Jak Crawford have had his chance in 2027? Tell us in the comments.
Sepang is next
Alonso won three times at Sepang when Formula 1 last raced in Malaysia, and he returns there this weekend for the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix. Read our Sepang guide, see our prediction for the race, or read more about his career in our Fernando Alonso driver profile.
