Fernando Alonso has explained that he is facing a crossroads in his life as he evaluates whether or not he wants to continue in F1.

Alonso may be a free agent on the driver market for the 2025 season, but the Spaniard has explained that a first step for him will simply be deciding whether or not he wants to carry on racing in Formula 1 beyond this season, before chatting with teams about contracts.

Fernando Alonso admits private life importance as 2025 decision looms

As the eldest driver on the grid – Alonso turns 43 this summer – the Spaniard has had incredible longevity in F1 after making his debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix.

Some prime seats are unconfirmed for next season, such as Lewis Hamilton’s cockpit at Mercedes, an unconfirmed cockpit at Red Bull as Sergio Perez’s deal comes to an end, while Aston Martin themselves have made it clear they’d like Alonso to remain with them for next year.

But, first of all, Alonso has got to decide whether or not he wants to continue in Formula 1 and keep having to dig deep within himself for the ever-increasing demand of the lengthening F1 calendar.

“First of all, I need to decide myself what I want to do for the future,” he said when asked about what he’d like to do next season.

“If I want to commit my life, again, for a few more years to this sport, which I love.

“But I love driving, I’ve been driving all over winter, different cars, DTM, rallycross, rally car, go-kart itself.

“I love Formula 1, but generally, I love driving.

“So if it’s not Formula 1, I will find myself happy in any other form of motorsport, and maybe have more time for my private life, which is also very important at this age.”

Until he’s made this decision, Alonso said he won’t be chatting with any teams, but his first priority will be to converse with Aston Martin about whether or not they can reach an agreement to continue.

“But this is a decision that I need to do with myself, I need to think and I need to commit to a team eventually, and make sure that I understand that the next few years of my life, it will be that team and 100 percent of my time,” he said.

“Once I do that decision, I want to sit with Aston Martin and say, ‘OK, I make this decision. And I would love to continue with this project’.

“Because I think we did a good step forward in the last year. We built a lot of things together. We have this new facility here. We have everything to succeed for the future, and I trust this project.

“So that will be my first priority when I say that I want to speak first with Aston Martin, because I feel part of this project very much.

“But, if we cannot reach an agreement and I want to commit to race in Formula 1, I know that I have a privileged position.

“I’m probably attractive to other teams, the performance that they saw last year, the commitment, and as I said, you know there are only three World Champions on the grid. And there is only one available.”

With a seat at Mercedes up for grabs, Alonso acknowledged that he’s going to be a potential candidate for Mercedes to evaluate.

“Yeah, because obviously I don’t have any contract at the moment,” he said. “So it’s better to be on those lists than on the other series list, or being on the retirement list!

“But I will make the decision to commit for the future in the next few weeks, or few races. First of all, I need to speak with myself, I need to make a decision. If I personally want to commit for the future.”

While it may sound like Alonso is finally growing weary of racing in F1, the Spaniard said he’s as full of energy and joy about racing in the sport as he ever has been – even if he says the excitement comes in a different way compared to 20 years ago.

“It is different but I still love what I do,” he said.

“In a way, a new season always brings emotions and new opinions. You want to discover how a car behaves and how competitive you will be.