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As Fernando Alonso turns 45 on 29 July, one wonders what motivates a two-time Formula 1 champion to keep going amid Aston Martin's unprecedented slump. It's clearly not just success, otherwise he would have thrown in the towel by now and while the money is great, the Spaniard has amassed generational wealth too.
The love of the game? His F1 sabbatical may have been fulfilling, having been able to spread his wings to other branches of motorsport's luscious canopy. But not enough to keep him away from what's supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport for too long, as his head was turned by the prospect of a third stint at Team Enstone. Not necessarily a desperate bid, but not the most enticing one either for someone who has seen, and won, it all.
This year Alonso has been battling nobody but team-mate Lance Stroll to get off the last grid slot. Alonso's biggest opponent this season has been his Honda engine and its AI algorithms that giveth and taketh away.
High-speed Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps were a particularly bad look for F1 in that regard, and for a thoroughbred racer who lived through the V10 era, won Le Mans and sampled the Indianapolis 500 and Dakar, it can't have been anything other than sad.
Aston has pinned its hopes on a ‘B-spec’ chassis this weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix, followed by a B-spec Honda engine in Zandvoort that should make the team more respectable, getting in touch with F1's dense midfield.
'Driving these cars in places like Spa or Silverstone is not what I'm dreaming of'
It's not about what's possible this year, though, as that prospect is long gone. Aston wants to feel like a race team again, not a glorified test team that's being humiliated in front of the public. And it wants to make sure that when it does eventually have a better car, it has a well-oiled team that can take it to battle.
Yes, there were extremely high expectations for Aston Martin's aspiring superteam, what with Honda backing, aero guru Adrian Newey and Ferrari tech director Enrico Cardile all on board, working out of a state-of-the-art headquarters, including a brand-new wind tunnel, opposite Silverstone Circuit. That new force has missed its first bullet, but one would be foolish to write either Newey or Honda off prematurely.
"We had high hopes for this set of regulations and for Adrian's arrival on the team and Honda and things like that. So, the expectations were very high, and we didn't meet the expectations," Alonso said.
"We've been struggling for 11 races now in the same position. It's just disappointing, but everyone in the team took that as a challenge and they want to make it happen.
“Hopefully Budapest will be the first step."
But as far as Alonso goes, his decision to either continue or retire appears to be about the enjoyment of driving as much as anything else. It's what is sorely lacking now, but with a combination of better equipment and a regulations tweak that changes the hybrid energy equation for 2027 and beyond, it could yet convince the 2001 Minardi rookie to carry on for a 24th campaign.
"My decision is not about the performance of this year," Alonso explained his thinking in Spa.
"This year we started with the wrong foot and I cannot base my decision for next year on a performance that is not realistic. I think this is not the true potential of the team. I think it's much higher than what we see.
"I think my decision for next year is more about the rules. Driving these cars in places like Spa today or Silverstone last race is not what I'm dreaming of for my future."
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