Formula 1 teams should not be blamed for their reluctance to replace experienced drivers with rookies, according to Fernando Alonso.
At 42, the Spaniard is currently linked with a sensational switch from Aston Martin to Mercedes in 2025 to replace the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.
But, officially, Alonso insists he is not even ruling out retirement.
"He's bought a new boat," smiled former F1 boss Eddie Jordan on his Formula For Success podcast. "That's often an indication to me.
"People have a habit of buying boats and retiring so let's see what happens."
But if Alonso does stick around, Aston Martin has made it more than clear that it would re-sign the two-time champion for more than just another season.
Last week, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher thinks it's because of older drivers like Alonso that the road onto the grid is currently blocked for rookies.
"I have nothing against Fernando," he said, "but the objective of F1 is not to have an increasingly older grid."
One of 22-year-old Liam Lawson's backers, Rodin Cars boss David Dicker, blames the Formula 1 teams for the logjam.
"How many guys on the F1 grid would be capable of winning the world championship if they were in the best car?" he wondered to Formula Scout. "Five or six maybe?
"I don't understand why they don't turn them over a bit more, because in business and everything else you would. But it's almost like 'Jeez, this guy's going to be heartbroken if he's out of a seat.
"Man, you've got to perform," he insists.
Alonso, however, hits back at the idea that the older drivers or the teams should be blamed for the lack of rookies in Formula 1.
He is a fierce critic of the sport's current testing restrictions.
"Some of the big teams can afford to implement a funding program with private tests in an old car for Formula 2 drivers," Alonso is quoted as saying by Speed Week.
"But even that is not thorough preparation or real testing, but that's just how things are going in this sport at the moment.
"We have so many race weekends that we compete in, which means the teams are already at capacity, both in terms of the budget cap and the workload of the employees who go to the 24 races.
"I think that's why it's almost impossible to set up a test team, as in the past, to be able to prepare the young drivers well," said Alonso. "Even the winter tests are very short.
"If you put a rookie in the car, he has exactly one and a half days of testing before the season starts. It is quite possible that this is preventing one or two team bosses from using young drivers.
"There are some things that are not going well in F1 now and sometimes as drivers we raise our voices. I hope that they will also be heard."
