Fernando Alonso is a father!
Aston Martin confirmed the joyous news on Friday when “el padre” arrived in the Suzuka paddock ahead of Friday’s practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso father news confirmed by Aston Martin
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Earlier this week Aston Martin announced that reserve driver Jak Crawford would replace Alonso for FP1 at Suzuka, a decision that raised eyebrows.
Not only is Suzuka the third round in an all-new technical era, meaning the drivers need as much track time as they can get, but it is not a common venue for teams to tick off a rookie FP1.
Two days later, the team revealed Alonso would not be present for Thursday’s media day.
“Fernando is arriving slightly later this weekend for personal family reasons and won’t be attending media day at the Japanese Grand Prix,” said the Silverstone-based team.
“All is well and he will be at the track in time for Friday.”
The team did not go into further detail, nor would PlanetF1.com speculate about the reason why, amidst rumours that Alonso and his partner Melissa Jiménez were expecting the birth of their first child.
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That news, though, has now been confirmed by Aston Martin.
“El padre arrives in Suzuka,” the team wrote on social media as Alonso arrived in the paddock on Friday.
El padre arrives in Suzuka.#JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/TnnlESwEgq
— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) March 27, 2026
Alonso is the fourth driver on the F1 2026 grid to call himself ‘dad’, after Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Max Verstappen.
The Spaniard was asked about the arrival of his first child by Spaniard outlet DAZN.
“A little stress and worry, everything turned out well, both the mom and the baby,” he said. “Very happy, a super happy moment, very special.”
Prior to Aston Martin’s social media post, Franco Colapinto let slip that Alonso had become a rather when he was interviewed by ESPN.
Colapinto said: “Alonso is a father.”
Asked if it was confirmed, the Alpine driver said he knew “all the gossip” and was going to call the Spaniard “daddy” from now on.
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