The Fernando Alonso question heading into Zandvoort is no longer whether Aston Martin wants to keep him. It is what the invoice looks like.
Formula 1 business analyst Marc Limacher reports Alonso has asked Silverstone to move him from roughly €30million a year to €40m — a 33 per cent increase — and would sign through 2028 if they agree. Spanish paper Marca carries the same number and goes further, suggesting terms are effectively done and that the announcement could come at the Dutch Grand Prix on 21-23 August.
€40m would make the 45-year-old the joint third-best paid driver in the field, matching Charles Leclerc's reported Ferrari terms and sitting behind Max Verstappen (€70m) and Lewis Hamilton (€60m). Aston Martin's leverage is limited: Alpine has stepped up its own approach to its former champion, with Franco Colapinto's seat far from settled.
Alonso, for his part, keeps steering the conversation away from both money and results.
He told PlanetF1.com and other outlets that his decision is "not about the performance of this year" and "more about the rules," before adding the line that no salary can answer.
"Driving these cars in places like Spa or Silverstone is not what I'm dreaming of for my future. So we'll see," Alonso said.
The 2026 power unit rules — and the deployment behaviour that turned superclipping and lift-and-coast into a talking point again at Spa and Silverstone — are outside Aston Martin's control. What helps their pitch is that the balance tilts back towards internal combustion power in 2027, and again in 2028.
Honda is selling the long game hard. Chief engineer Shinharo Orihara told RacingNews365 that returning Alonso to title contention, something absent since 2013, is a stated goal of the project.
"That is our target, definitely," Orihara said. "So we are working closely, and we know he is a great driver. He has a big passion, and he trusts Honda. So we want to bring what he wants."
He also framed Alonso as an input rather than just an asset: "His feedback is always critical. He has 20 years of experience. If Fernando says, 'We need this deployment before going into a corner,' then we should respect his opinion."
Team principal Adrian Newey has said he is "pretty confident" of keeping Alonso for 2027 — a firmer line than Alonso's own, which has never fully closed the door on retirement.
Sky's David Croft adds a wrinkle: he has claimed the existing Aston Martin agreement already runs to 2029, carrying options for 2027 and beyond either as a driver or as a team ambassador. On that reading the negotiation is about which clause gets triggered, and at what price, not about freedom of movement.
Hungary gave both parties something to work with. The B-spec AMR26 carried Alonso into Q2 and to 14th, with Lance Stroll 13th, after a first half Autoweek described bluntly as abject. Nobody is calling that competitive. It does suggest the car answers to development, which alongside the money is all Aston Martin has to offer.
Marca's reporting is that the 2027 car matters more to Alonso than the fee. The €40m request looks like his valuation of himself to a team rebuilding around Newey — and Zandvoort should reveal whether Silverstone shares it.