Fernando Alonso has dropped a clear hint that he intends to negotiate a new contract with Aston Martin to keep him in Formula 1 beyond this year.
After returning to the sport from a sabbatical with Alpine in 2021 and 2022, the 42-year-old two-time champion switched to Aston Martin last year.
The last season on his current contract is 2024.
"The incredible year I just had with Aston Martin, the podiums, the celebration, the champagne, the joy, was a reset at the level of motivation and desire," he said in a DAZN documentary called Fernando - Revelado.
But he said even racing with Alpine, with less success, was preferable to not racing in F1 at all.
"I returned because I believed I was in a good moment at the driving level and I felt wasted being at home. 2023 was then a bit of a vindication and in 2024 or 2025 I see myself with the same strength, desire, energy and optimism," said Alonso.
"I have not done anything else in my life, nor have I liked anything else in my life, nor have I felt so comfortable in anything else, other than motorsport. It's me - where I feel good and where I do what I think I do best.
"Whenever I'm not in the car, I'm waiting to be in the car."
Alonso says he is even enjoying F1 even more in the second phase of his career compared to when he had the bulk of his successes as a youngster.
"I was 24 and 25 years old and was always thinking about the next race and the next thing. I don't have as many memories as I should, so I would tell my (former) self to lower the intensity a little, enjoy the moment and think about the next challenge the next week," he smiled.
He said former Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was the closest thing he had to a friend in F1 in his earlier career, where now he gets along with Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.
"Both Max and Checo are two drivers you can trust on the track," said Alonso. "Max had more incidents and was a little crazier in his early days with more problems, but I think we are very similar. We like similar things.
"There are not many friendships in F1, but we fight with respect. We like sports more than shows. We come to the track with team clothes and a backpack, we race and then on Sunday we leave with the backpack on again. We like simple things. When we have some free time we go somewhere to drive a car.
"That is what I like most about Max that that has not changed despite the titles."
As for his frosty relationship with Lewis Hamilton, he admits that most of that now is in the past - like when they were paired at McLaren in 2007 and clashed so badly.
"I think now there is another type of rivalry," said Alonso. "I don't think we'll be friends in the future and I don't think we don't share many things, but in 2007 the rivalry was at the highest level.
"I would arrive at the team meeting and I began to notice this friction - this tension. I would see his telemetry and onboard cameras and that the car had little grip at the front, but when he (Hamilton) spoke he would complain about the rear instead.
"We were young and immature - me first of all - but we also had a boss who didn't know how to control the situation," Alonso explained, referring to Ron Dennis.
"What happened will remain under lock and key and I have deleted many other things, but I don't believe it would have happened at all with Flavio Briatore or Lawrence Stroll.
"There are certain characters in F1 who are respected, while there are others where the drivers have a bit too much control of the situation. Nobody gave us serious warning about what was happening."
And today, Alonso says the special rivalry with Hamilton still exists.
"Every time we overtake each other it has an extra satisfaction," he admitted. "And pain when it is you who is overtaken. I think the two of us are always going to have that."
To seasoned F1 observers, Alonso is clearly more mature but just as clearly still popular - and so a new deal with Aston Martin for 2025 now seems almost inevitable.
"F1 is increasing in popularity every year, we have more and more young people who follow the sport, the circuits are full, record calendar," he said. "It's like the crest of the wave and I don't want to see it from the couch - I want to see it from here."
