Fernando Alonso has rued what he has labelled a “fundamental problem” hindering Aston Martin’s Formula 1 recovery efforts in 2026.
Alonso and Aston Martin have endured a nightmare start to their alliance with Honda this season, with multiple maladies relegating them to the back of the grid.
Extreme vibrations caused by multiple aspects of the AMR26 are one of the major culprits, which led to the Spaniard and Lance Stroll unable to complete the opening races.
Miami and Canada marked a step forward, but Alonso remained frustrated, describing it as a repeat of previous events when reflecting on his and the team’s performance in Canada.
“The same as has been always.
“We do good starts sometimes, we’re completely out of position and then we slowly fall behind. We lose one position each lap and then you arrive to your natural position at the back.
“This is the situation and it will be like this until after summer. So we accept it and we answer the same questions every weekend, but we are relaxed with this.”
Fernando Alonso confirms “fundamental problem’
Alonso also confirmed progress is coming slowly for Aston Martin, but highlighted the Honda power unit deficit as the issue continuing to hinder Aston Martin.
Whilst an exact number has not been released, Honda could be as much as 100 horsepower down on its rivals
“There is progress, always,” Alonso said.
“Every time we hit the track, there are some new things on the car, and on the engine, on the settings, on the gearbox.
“From Miami to [Canada], we improved a lot, the gearbox, the gear sync, the downshifting.
“So how that translates into lap time is difficult to quantify, but definitely we were faster here than Miami with exactly the same car, just because we finetuned things.
“I expect a lot of small things happening between here and Monaco and hopefully another step forward.
“But the fundamental problem and the three seconds off the pace will have to come from the power of the engine and from the aero package and that will only come in the second part of the year.”
Alonso has chosen to accept the short term pain of his predicament, in the hopes of an improvement later in the season.
Noting the timeline as the second half of the year for better results, it indicates a mammoth effort underway at Sakura and Silverstone to rectify the team’s fortunes.
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