The Spaniard made it clear at the launch of the Aston Martin AMR24 last month that the first step will be to decide whether or not he wants to carry on beyond this season, and then he will make a call on which team he drives for.

Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari has left a prime seat open at Mercedes, and the team is focused on readying its F2 protege Kimi Antonelli, with a testing programme in 2021 and 2022 F1 cars beginning after he turns 18 in August.

If Antonelli is deemed to need more time, one scenario could see Mercedes offer Alonso a one-year deal for 2025 pending the likely arrival of the Italian youngster in 2026, assuming that George Russell remains in the other car.

Max Verstappen has also emerged as a surprise candidate for the Brackley team, should he opt to leave Red Bull before the end of his current contract in 2028. However, clearly the world champion would only commit to a long-term arrangement.

Alonso concedes that he is on Toto Wolff’s list of potential candidates for a Mercedes drive.

"Yeah, because obviously I don't have any contract at the moment,” he said. “So it's better to be on those lists than on the other series list, or being on the retirement list!

But I will make the decision to commit for the future in the next few weeks, or few races. First of all, I need to speak with myself, I need to make a decision. If I personally want to commit for the future.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

“Obviously, I need to sacrifice everything else in life to be 100% ready for F1. That will be the decision.”

Asked by Motorsport.com if he would be willing to accept a one-year deal, Alonso was non-committal.

“I don't know,” he said. “First of all, I need to see if I want to keep racing. As I’ve said I will be egoist if I'm just thinking of renewing a contract and just being an F1 driver, and travel around the world, feel cool.

“But I'm not that type of person, if I commit it's because I truly believe that there is a possibility of winning races. I want to be in the simulator, I want to be with the engineers, I want to ask 100% to an organisation that I know for sure that I will give that 100%.

“If not, I will not commit. I don't know for how long and I don't know with whom. So there are many question marks. But this is a second stage. First stage of the future it has to be with my own personal decision.”