Jenson Button wants Fernando Alonso to stay in Formula 1. Lovely sentiment. Shame it arrives while Alonso sits nineteenth in the championship on three points, driving a car that has spent 2026 going backwards faster than Aston Martin’s own PR department can spin it.
Alonso himself has already said he wants to continue with the team, choosing to stay loyal despite the misery of this season, a decision we covered in detail when he announced his intention to stay with Aston Martin. Button’s intervention is different: it is not about what Alonso has decided, but about what his old rival thinks Alonso still has left to give. And Button, unsurprisingly, thinks it is plenty.
A Retired Man’s Advice
Button retired from F1 at 36. Alonso is 45 and still strapping in every other weekend, which makes Button’s comparison an odd one to lean on, yet he does it anyway, framing his own exit as a case of contentment rather than decline.
“I retired aged 36, nine years younger than Fernando, but I was ready. I’d spent a couple of years struggling with racing because I didn’t really want to be there. It felt like there wasn’t anything new for me to achieve and when you get to that point you know it’s time to go.” – Jenson Button
Fine. Button knew his own mind. But the leap from “I was done” to “Fernando definitely isn’t” requires more than nostalgia, and Button supplies mostly nostalgia, as detailed by RacingNews365.
The Newey Card
Button’s strongest argument, if you can call it that, is Adrian Newey. Working alongside the sport’s most decorated designer is, on paper, a reason to stick around even when the car itself is a dud.
“But I think the difference for Fernando is there’s still an exciting challenge in front of him. Obviously, this year has been tough, but it’s still an exciting time to be at Aston Martin Aramco and to be working with people like Adrian Newey. Any F1 driver would love to race a car designed by him, and to experience firsthand him driving this team forward.” – Jenson Button
It is a fair point in theory. Newey’s presence at Aston Martin is genuinely the one thing keeping the project credible amid a season where the Honda power unit has been about as competitive as a rental kart. But theory does not win championships, and Newey’s arrival has not yet translated into anything resembling pace. Alonso is 45, not 25; there is a limited window left for that promised revival to actually show up on a stopwatch.
He’s Been Here Before, and It Didn’t Go Well
Button’s more interesting observation is about history repeating itself. Alonso walked away from the sport at the end of 2018, only to come crawling back, and Button reckons that regret is exactly why this next decision will be treated with far more caution.
“I know how difficult it is to decide your future, and he’s been there once before. He left the sport and came back, so he obviously left too early. Now, he will make sure that he’s 100 per cent certain that he doesn’t want to be in the sport before he leaves.” – Jenson Button
That is probably the most honest line in the whole piece. Alonso does not strike anyone as a man who enjoys admitting he got something wrong, and leaving F1 prematurely once already is exactly the kind of mistake he will not want stamped on his record twice. Whatever call he eventually makes about 2027, it will not be rushed, and Button knows it.
Unlucky, or Just Unfashionable?
Then comes the bit every Alonso defender eventually reaches for: the idea that he simply has not been rewarded for his talent.
“Fernando’s still got so much more to give in F1. I would love to see him in an Aston Martin fighting for wins. That’s where he should be, and it’s where this team is aiming to be. He hasn’t won as much as he should have. He’s found himself in unlucky situations a few times, one alongside me, but the talent and hunger is still there, which is the key to staying in the sport and being competitive.” – Jenson Button
There is truth in it, Alonso’s win count has never matched his reputation, and Button was there for at least one of the missed opportunities himself. But “unlucky” is doing a lot of heavy lifting for a driver whose current team is tenth in a field that only really has one competitive half. Hunger and talent do not fix a Honda deficit, and they certainly do not fix a car that has spent the year firmly out of the points fight, currently sat on 3 points in the constructors’ standings alongside Lance Stroll‘s zero.
The Real Test Isn’t Sentiment
Button’s case for Alonso staying is built on admiration, not evidence, and there is nothing wrong with that; old rivals are allowed to be sentimental about each other. But sentiment has never won a driver a race, and it will not be what convinces Alonso either way. The Newey project might eventually deliver something worth staying for. Right now, it has delivered a season Alonso himself described as tough enough to warrant using the summer break just to think straight, a point echoed elsewhere about how difficult 2026 has been for anyone stuck outside the top four teams.
If Alonso stays, it will not be because Button made a nice speech about hunger and talent. It will be because he believes, against all current evidence, that Aston Martin’s Newey-shaped gamble is actually going to pay off before his career runs out of road.
