Fernando Alonso, an Aston Martin F1 driver, has reportedly expressed ‘great interest’ in replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the 2025 season. The seven-time world champion will quit the German team at the end of the 2024 season, having spent 12 years with them, winning six of his seven world titles between 2014 and 2020. Since the announcement, fans have expressed significant interest in submitting their suggestions for the Mercedes F1 driver’s replacement.
According to an F1 insider, The Spanish racing driver has been quite active and has shown a strong interest in replacing his old McLaren partner at Mercedes for the 2025 season. The 42-year-old Spaniard is not afraid to make a bold move in the driver market during the silly season, as evidenced by his departure from Alpine to Aston Martin at the start of 2023. The two-time world champion’s contract with the Silverstone-based team expires at the end of 2024, and he hopes to drive for a top team once more in his retirement years.
In a recent interview with Sky F1, former world champion Jenson Button endorsed Alonso as Hamilton’s successor at Mercedes. I might have a bit of a man crush on my ex-teammate, but I would love to see Fernando Alonso. He is 42 now, but the hunger is there. And if the hunger is there, the fitness is there. He drives every day in a go-kart or some sort of race car. If he’s there, I think it’d be a cool partnership. I think they’d learn from each other pretty well and work well together, Button said.
Former F1 driver David Coulthard also picked Alonso as the favorite over four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel to replace the 39-year-old British driver at Mercedes. If I was Mercedes, I would take Alonso over Vettel. He’s race fit, he understands the engine, the power unit, because of Aston Martin and he’s still gladiatorial and got the bit between his teeth, Coulthard said. Yes, maybe Seb was just struggling a little bit with the development of the Aston when he was there. But he wasn’t, sort of, putting manners on Lance Stroll in the way that we have seen from Alonso. So, if I could get Fernando, I’d take him, the ex-McLaren driver expressed.
It will be interesting to see which driver replaces Hamilton at Mercedes for 2025 as the team has an entire year to choose the perfect successor for the seven-time world champion.
