After the bad luck that affected Alonso during the first eight races of the season, there was finally some positive karma for the Spaniard starting with the Spanish Grand Prix. Since then, the Asturian has crossed the finish line in every race, all of them within the top ten.
Alonso breaks the record in Belgium for being the oldest driver to compete in a Formula 1 Grand Prix
But that’s not the only good thing that has happened to the Aston Martin driver this year. Because Fernando Alonso, now halfway through the championship, has broken some important records, while he will start next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix breaking another.
And he will do so on the very weekend that Aston Martin is planning to roll out one of the latest updates for its AMR25. This is none other than becoming the oldest driver to start a Formula 1 race… 50 years later. This was a record he tied with Graham Hill at Silverstone, and which he will surpass at Spa.
In other words, Fernando Alonso will become the oldest driver to race in a Grand Prix in Belgium since 1975, when Graham Hill did so, months before he suffered a plane crash that cost him his life.
Experience seems to be one of the keys to Fernando Alonso’s record in Formula 1. In addition to winning 32 times, standing on the podium 106 times, just one away from surpassing Alain Prost, and achieving 22 pole positions and 26 fastest laps, he is the driver who has competed in the most seasons, with 2025 being his 22nd. He has participated in 416 Grand Prix races, finishing in 312, more than 79%, and covering more than 107,000 kilometers.
The goal is to win his third title… surpassing Fangio
The goal is clear: to win his third world title. At almost 44 years old (he turns 44 on July 29), he is looking to the great achievements of Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s. The Argentine won the championship consecutively from 1953 to 1957, making him 46 years and 22 days old when he became a five-time champion for the last time.
“Right now, I’m very, very focused on Formula 1. Over the next two or three years, I want to win my third world title,” said the Spaniard at a public event hosted by Aston Martin sponsor Valvoline, referring to his intention to add another crown to his career.
Other records Alonso can aspire to
“This is my first and only priority at the moment. And then, because I’ll be 45, 46, we’ll see how I feel when the time comes,” he said.
His ambition remains intact, as do his talent and abilities. His physio, Edo Bendinelli, said that the first thing you tend to lose with age is your reflexes. But proof of his fitness is that on several occasions he has been the fastest driver off the line in some of the recent races.
If Alonso wants to become the oldest driver in history to be world champion, he would have to continue competing and win in the 2027 season, when he will be over 46 in July [it seems almost impossible to win a world championship before that month].
If he fails to achieve that, he could always go for the record for the oldest driver to win a Formula 1 race, currently held by Luigi Fagioli, who did so at the 1951 French Grand Prix at the age of 53 years and 22 days. That seems much more complicated, because he would have to continue for another decade, that is, until 2034, and achieve the famous 33, beyond the month of July, and that figure also applies to the Italian’s podium finishes.
A much more realistic mark is that of the oldest driver in history to take pole position, after Giuseppe Farina did so in Argentina in 1954 at the age of 47. Therefore, if Fernando wants to be his successor, he would have to set the fastest time in a qualifying session beyond the 2028 season, something difficult but not impossible given his current level.
It should be remembered that Fernando Alonso has several records to his name, such as being the driver with the most Grand Prix wins in the history of Formula 1 (413 before the Belgian Grand Prix), leaving Hamilton (368) and Kimi Raikkonen (350) far behind. Added to this is the fact that in 2024, in Qatar, he became the first driver to reach 400 Grand Prix wins.