Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Spain’s Formula One “golden oldie” Fernando Alonso set a date for his retirement on Thursday, saying he won’t be behind the wheel “at 50.”

The 43-year-old leads Aston Martin into their 100th F1 race on Sunday at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with the verve and enthusiasm of a driver half his years.

The veteran, older than the age of rookies Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman combined, has an open-ended contract at the ambitious team bankrolled by Lawrence Stroll, father of Alonso’s teammate Lance.

And while recent results may not have been much to right home about, Aston’s project proved appealing enough to lure design guru Adrian Newey over from Red Bull.

Given their recent lack of form — Alonso’s last podium dates back to 2023 — Aston could do with Newey imbuing some of his magic onto this season’s car.

However, the man whose car design helped Red Bull to 13 titles — six drivers and seven constructors — is purely focusing on 2026 and the next big change in F1’s technical landscape.

“He’s working only on ‘26, and I totally support that,” Alonso said.

“I want to drive an Adrian-designed car,” he added, when asked how long his familiar grizzled features would be part of the grid.

“Not at 50 for sure.”

“After 2026, I don’t know — I will go season by season, see how motivated I am.”

“Right now, I am very motivated. Let’s do it until 2026, and then we’ll sit and talk, and check what is best for the team.”

Alonso, preparing for his 51st race with the team he joined in 2023 from Alpine, reflected on “an incredible journey so far.”

Despite yet to score a point this term, he said: “We are a much better team, a much more prepared team to fight for world championships than we were two years ago.”

“Then we had a very small factory, we were using Mercedes’ wind tunnel, and maybe we didn’t have the right people and partners together in the project.”

“So, yeah, the results on track on Sunday are not the same as they ere before.”

“But I feel very relaxed, very motivated.”

“And this is just a transition time.”