Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso has opened up on his decision to leave Formula 1 in 2018.
Alonso’s first stint in the sport lasted from 2001 to 2018, in which he raced for Minardi, Renault, McLaren and Ferrari, but things shifted for the hyper-competitive Spaniard when Mercedes’ domination began in 2014, winning the constructors’ championship by almost 300 points.
That championship win set up an astonishing run which saw Mercedes claim seven consecutive drivers’ titles – including six for Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, Alonso was at Ferrari in 2014 and switched to McLaren in 2015, but was well off the pace of the dominant leaders.
While his former McLaren team-mate was picking up historic amounts of trophies, Alonso was struggling to even finish in top 10 in an underwhelming car.
Alonso left McLaren in 2018 and raced in World Endurance championship for Toyota. In fact, the Spaniard won the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans and was part of the LMP1 winning team in the 2018-19 WEC.
In 2021, Alonso returned to F1 with Alpine and switched to Aston Martin in 2023. Speaking to the Financial Times, the 43-year-old has admitted that he left F1 in 2018 because of Hamilton and Mercedes’ dominance.
He said: “In 2018, when I stopped, I felt that it was just too predictable, the Mercedes domination was too much to really enjoy being part of the grid.
“We were just actors in the movie of Mercedes, not able to fight at any point. I had other challenges in my head with Le Mans and things that were more appealing. So I left.
“But, in 2021, after achieving the World Endurance Championship and Le Mans wins, I felt that there was a bigger challenge; trying to be back in F1 and to succeed again.”
