Fernando Alonso has revealed a seat issue, persisting since the Sprint race, forced him to retire from the 2026 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.
Alonso endured his third DNF of the season in only five races at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, on Sunday.
The Aston Martin driver had made a strong start to the 68-lap race, running as high as 10th on his opening stint on the Soft tyres.
That said, the two-time World Champion came into the pits and retired on Lap 24 – prolonging his pointless start to the 2026 campaign with the Silverstone-based team.
As it turns out, however, Alonso’s retirement wasn’t triggered by reliability but one caused by an errant seat on his AMR26 that finally made him pull the plug on the race to “stop the pain”.
“We had this seat issue where I feel more and more uncomfortable with the laps,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“The position doesn’t feel the right one, and yeah, we were obviously out of the points, quite far from the points, and no threat of rain anymore. So we decided to stop the pain.”
Aston Martin vows to “reconsider” issue that triggered Fernando Alonso’s F1 Canadian GP retirement
The Spanish racing driver has endured arguably one of the most difficult starts to an F1 season with the British marque.
The Honda engine propelling the AMR26 is excruciatingly slow compared to its rivals, and reliability issues have made even completing a Grand Prix distance a celebratory affair.
To make matters worse, Alonso has been plagued with such bizarre issues making life even more difficult for the former Ferrari and McLaren driver.
Aston Martin’s Chief Trackside Officer, Mike Krack confirmed that Alonso had been struggling with his seat throughout the weekend and before, and the team will “reconsider” the design and positioning heading into Monaco.
“He has been uncomfortable for a while,” he said. “And never to the point where it was really like a showstopper, but it’s like a pressure point, you feel it gets worse and worse, and I think we need to reconsider a little bit the positioning.”
Alonso himself is hopeful that the team can expedite the process. “We tried to modify a few things last night, didn’t work, so we try to make a new one for Monaco,” Alonso added.
Aston Martin’s next challenge on the F1 calendar will be the iconic Monaco GP – scheduled to be held on the 7th of June.
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