FIA President Urges Fernando Alonso to Stay in Formula 1
Mohammed Ben Sulayem has drawn a clear line in the sand: Formula 1 cannot afford to watch Fernando Alonso slip quietly out of the sport in an uncompetitive car.
The FIA president, speaking in Madrid, made no attempt to hide either his admiration for the Spaniard or his frustration at the situation Aston Martin and Honda currently find themselves in.
“There is no way we can allow Fernando to leave – Alonso, a great champion – to leave just because of the circumstances,” Ben Sulayem said. “That's not the way to leave the stage. He has to be successful and then he leaves whenever he wants, not because he was forced to leave because of the performance.”
Alonso, 45, is out of contract with Aston Martin at the end of the season. On Thursday he made it clear he is in no rush to decide his future, saying his call on whether to stay in F1 would be made “not soon”. Right now, the picture is bleak. Aston Martin sit 10th in the constructors’ standings, their car blunt and underpowered, with engine partner Honda currently judged to have the weakest power-unit on the grid.
That is the backdrop to Ben Sulayem’s intervention. The head of motorsport’s governing body said he had already spoken with Alonso, who returned to his home race in Spain only to find himself mired in the midfield.
“I saw him very sad,” Ben Sulayem said. “And I said, ‘Fernando, I understand, it's not acceptable that you are coming to your own country and now after two times a world champion…’”
From there, the conversation moved to what the FIA could do within the rules. Ben Sulayem revealed that steps had already been taken earlier in the year to give Honda and Aston Martin a chance to claw back performance.
“We did something earlier, in May, legally for the team towards the engine to go and improve,” he explained. “And then I said to him: ‘I am not going to tell you what we are going to do. Please tell me what you want because you are the driver and come and tell me what do you want us to do to improve these results.’”
The comments raised eyebrows. A FIA president openly discussing direct conversations with a driver about how to improve their team’s competitiveness inevitably touches on the question of governance and neutrality, particularly given Ben Sulayem’s tenure has already been dogged by controversy around internal checks and balances.
The governing body moved quickly to frame his remarks. An FIA spokesperson clarified that Ben Sulayem was referring specifically to Formula 1’s additional development and upgrade opportunities (Aduo) system.
Under Aduo, engine manufacturers whose power-units are assessed to be more than 2% down on the benchmark are granted extra chances to upgrade their design. It is a mechanism built into the regulations to prevent one supplier drifting too far off the pace and to keep the field from fracturing into haves and have-nots.
“It is a comment about the Aduo process and that he hopes FA stays in the sport,” the spokesperson said. “That is all.”
When pressed on whether Ben Sulayem’s words suggested an intention to lean into the process in a way that might overstep his role as head of an organisation expected to administer the rules independently and objectively, the response was firm.
“He is passionate about the drivers, having been one himself, and I really would not read too much into this,” the spokesperson added.
The message, then, is twofold. Publicly, the FIA insists the president’s remarks are about an existing regulatory tool and a personal wish to see a double world champion remain on the grid. Privately, they underline a broader truth about modern F1: losing a name like Fernando Alonso, still fighting, still sharp, because of a car that cannot live with the front-runners would sting the sport far beyond the Aston Martin garage.
Alonso will decide his own future, on his own timetable. Ben Sulayem has made clear how he hopes that story ends – not with a whimper in the lower reaches of the standings, but with a driver of his stature choosing the moment to walk away.
