– Will Fernando Alonso extend his Formula 1 career by another year? This has not been officially confirmed yet, but there are at least signs that the two-time world champion will also race in the top class in 2027 – even though he will already be 46 years old next year.
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“Maybe soon we’ll also have the next 50-year-old driver in Formula 1,” jokes expert Ralf Schumacher in the Backstage Boxengasse podcast by Sky and then seriously explains: “That’s something that really bothers me about the new regulations and also the new tires.”
Drivers like Alonso or Lewis Hamilton, who will also be 42 next year, only have the chance to have such a long career “because Formula 1 is simply not as limited as it used to be.”
Schumacher recalls that this year drivers even have to manage the battery during qualifying – an aspect Alonso himself has criticized several times. “That means you can’t push 100 percent to the limit anymore,” says the expert.
Photo gallery: Contract durations of current Formula 1 drivers
“Late braking and taking a lot of risks has moved to the background, management is the key. And then there are the tires. We didn’t have to manage tires like this before,” recalls the six-time Grand Prix winner.
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All this has led to “it not being as exhausting anymore,” explains Schumacher: “There were times when they suddenly had to go full throttle in the sprint. They were all exhausted because they weren’t used to it anymore.”
“Back then, we had to do the ‘sprint’ from start to finish, more or less, including pit stops and so on. We always had light cars,” says the 51-year-old, who raced in Formula 1 for a total of eleven years between 1997 and 2007.
“I’m happy for the guys that it works like this,” he emphasizes. On the other hand, it is also “a bit of a shame” for the young talent that many drivers can now have such a long career. Because logically, this means fewer cockpits for talented young drivers.
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