Fernando Alonso will not be rushed. At Madring, ahead of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, the 45-year-old Aston Martin driver was asked by Motorsport Week whether the team’s WEC Hypercar programme could be his 2027 home. “Yes,” he replied, in comments also carried by the Associated Press.

Any switch would keep him inside the same organisation. Aston Martin already fields two Valkyrie hypercars in the World Endurance Championship, and the works team confirmed in December that its 2026 driver line-up would go unchanged.

Tom Gamble and Harry Tincknell share the #007 with Ross Gunn on selected rounds, while Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen lead the #009 alongside reserve Roman De Angelis. A seat for Alonso would have to be created, not opened by a departure.

What is holding him back is not the choice of category. It is the rulebook.

Read also: Verstappen's title math: 140 down, nine to go, and a circuit no one has driven

“It’s a matter of understanding what the rules from next year will have an impact or not on the racing and on the driving side of things,” Alonso said.

“The current cars, as I said many times, are not the best cars to drive and to enjoy. Next year there is a step, I think, in the right direction, hopefully.”

He also left the door open to stepping out of the cockpit without leaving the team.

“Behind the wheel or in another role, where I will be helping the most, that will be the most important thing to decide together.”

Read also: Therry Henry: 'They are unplayable'

Two Le Mans wins and a WEC title already on the CV

Alonso is not a WEC outsider. Alongside Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima at Toyota he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in both 2018 and 2019 and took the 2018/19 WEC drivers’ title. He has never lost at La Sarthe.

Newey backs him, but the team is preparing for life without him

The public position at Silverstone is that Alonso stays. Adrian Newey, the design chief brought in to lead Aston Martin’s 2026 project, said in July he was “pretty confident” the Spaniard would carry on.

On the track it has been a different year. Aston Martin sit second-bottom of the constructors’ championship, and every one of their three points has been scored by Alonso. The team has begun contingency planning for a season without him.

“There is no urgency,” Alonso said.

Read also: Ballon d'Or nod, seven-game slump: Messi's paradoxical week for Inter Miami

The Spanish Grand Prix runs at Madring on Sunday, 13 September. Alonso has set no deadline for a call on 2027.

Read also: Verstappen overlooks every F1 race when naming his best moment of 2026