Verified: the story is real (Ben Sulayem spoke in Madrid on Friday 11 September; BBC, theScore, Crash and f1i all carry it). Article below.
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Fernando Alonso has scored all three of Aston Martin’s points in 2026. The team sits 10th in the constructors’ championship. The 45-year-old is out of contract in December, has told reporters in Madrid that a decision on his future will come “not soon”, and answered a single word — “Yes” — when asked whether a World Endurance Championship programme was on the table for 2027.
Into that vacuum stepped the president of motorsport’s governing body. Speaking in Madrid on Friday, ahead of a sprint weekend at the new 5.416km Madring circuit, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said it would be “not acceptable” for a two-time world champion to be pushed out of Formula 1 by a car he cannot win in.
‘Not the way to leave the stage’
Ben Sulayem’s language was unusually direct for a man whose office is meant to referee rather than recruit.
“There is no way we can allow Fernando to leave — Alonso, a great champion — to leave just because of the circumstances,” he said. “That’s not the way to leave the stage. He has to be successful and then he leaves whenever he wants, not because he was forced to leave because of the performance.”
He described a conversation with the Spaniard: “I saw him very sad, and I said, ‘Fernando, I understand, it’s not acceptable that you are coming to your own country and now after two times a world champion…'”
Ben Sulayem also confirmed he had met Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll, saying: “I share the issues, the car is not performing. I met with the owner Lawrence yesterday and I am going to do the changes.” He added that the governing body had acted in May, “legally, for the team, towards the engine, to go and improve”, and that he had asked Alonso directly what he wanted the FIA to do.
What the FIA can actually change
The remarks landed awkwardly enough that an FIA spokesperson clarified them: Ben Sulayem was referring to the additional development and upgrade opportunities framework — ADUO — rather than promising bespoke help to one driver.
ADUO is a mechanism written into the 2026 power-unit regulations to stop a manufacturer being locked out for the life of the rule set. It matters here for one reason:
- Manufacturers assessed as more than 2% behind the benchmark unit qualify for extra development and upgrade allowance.
- Honda, Aston Martin’s works partner, has the least powerful engine on the grid and has been reported as roughly 4% adrift of the benchmark Red Bull Ford unit.
- That places Honda comfortably inside the threshold — so the “help” Ben Sulayem describes is a rule already on the books, applied to an engine that qualifies for it.
The distinction is important. The FIA cannot legislate Aston Martin a competitive chassis, and Adrian Newey’s arrival as managing technical partner has not yet produced one. What ADUO can do is close a power deficit over 2027 — a timeline that runs past the point at which Alonso says he will decide anything.
A career measured against a 13-year drought
Alonso last won a grand prix at Barcelona in 2013. His 32 victories and back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006 came in a different technical era, and the intervening years have been a catalogue of near-misses: Ferrari’s 2010 and 2012 title runs, the McLaren-Honda collapse, eight podiums in his first Aston Martin season in 2023 and nothing approaching them since.
That is the context for Ben Sulayem’s discomfort. A driver of Alonso’s standing retiring 10th in the constructors’ standings, with three points to his name, is a poor advertisement for a regulation reset that was sold on the promise of a closer field.
Alonso himself has been blunter about the machinery than about his plans. “The current cars, as I said many times, are not the best cars to drive and to enjoy,” he said, having spent the week driving older cars from his own collection in Barcelona. “Next year there is a step, I think, in the right direction, hopefully.”
He has also left the door open to a role outside the cockpit: “I need to think what is the best program for next year and sit with the team. Behind the wheel or in another role, where I will be helping the most, that will be the most important thing to decide together.”
Ben Sulayem wants him to stay until he wins again. Alonso, on current evidence, is weighing whether Aston Martin’s fastest route back to a podium involves a Formula 1 car at all.
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**Sources:** [Yahoo/BBC Sport](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/alonso-cannot-leave-f1-while-170755770.html) · [theScore](https://www.thescore.com/formula1/news/3596879/fia-chief-vows-to-keep-alonso-not-acceptable-to-leave-f-1-over-cars-performance) · [f1i](https://f1i.com/news/572757-not-acceptable-ben-sulayem-wont-let-alonso-retire-in-misery.html) · [Crash.net](https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1104181/1/mohammed-ben-sulayem-makes-bizarre-fernando-alonso-f1-help-claim) · [AutoRacing1](https://www.autoracing1.com/pl/503813/formula-1-news-alonso-says-2027-decision-not-soon)
Two notes on sourcing: the 4% Honda deficit figure is reported secondhand (GrandPrix247/Crash) rather than confirmed by the FIA, so I hedged it as “reported”; the 2% ADUO threshold and the FIA spokesperson’s clarification are directly sourced. Word count is 735.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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