cristiano barni/Shutterstock If a driver becomes such a talismanic figure in Formula 1 that the FIA President is willing to change the rules to keep them in the sport, that driver can pretty much do whatever they want. Fernando Alonso is set to return to the Dakar Rally with Aston Martin, apparently as a condition of his F1 contract extension. The British automaker will reportedly task Prodrive with preparing a rally-raid machine badged as the Dreadnought, the virtual concept made for "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4." Alonso made his first trip to the Dakar Rally during his tenure with Toyota, finishing 13th in 2020. However, Aston Martin has never competed in the iconic cross-country rally. According to Motorsport.com, the British automaker will leverage a long-standing partnership with Prodrive. The motorsport engineering company ran the state-backed Bahrain Raid Xtreme team, competing at the Dakar from 2021 to 2024. Prodrive would go on to partner with Dacia and with Nasser Al-Attiyah, who won his sixth Dakar behind the wheel earlier this year. There's a small hitch in Aston Martin's plans to head for Dakar. The DBX-builder doesn't have a true production off-roader to base the bodywork of its vehicle on. The Dreadnought, a digital-only concept revealed in July, was designed as an in-game vehicle for "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4." Aston Martin could have just made something from scratch like the Audi RS Q e-tron and no one would've questioned it. Instead, the Prodrive-built Dacia Sandrider will be the basis for the Aston Martin entry. Now, Fernando Alonso will be traversing sand dunes in a vehicle styled to be shot at in a first-person shooter. Alonso wants to build a legacy cristiano barni/Shutterstock Alonso contemplated retirement before announcing last week that he'll be staying for the 2027 season. The two-time F1 champion has made it clear that he wants to go out on a high, but the Aston Martin is far from competitive. The team sits 10th in the constructors' championship, only ahead of zero-point Cadillac. A Dakar campaign could be the perfect way to placate Alonso's urge to build a legacy, at least until the F1 team improves. McLaren allowed similar adventures for Alonso in the two seasons before his first retirement from F1. He contested the 2017 Indianapolis 500 in a McLaren-branded Andretti entry. The Spaniard won Rookie of the Year after qualifying fifth and running near the front before his Honda engine failed with 21 laps to go. To continue scratching Alonso's itch, McLaren and Toyota reached an agreement for him to race an LMP1 in the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship. He won the championship and both editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans over the unique 14-month super season. And now, Alonso will be forever linked to Call of Duty, just like Lewis Hamilton.
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