May 4 (GMM) Fernando Alonso admits he and teammate Lance Stroll are effectively experimenting – and even entertaining themselves – during races as Aston Martin battles through a difficult 2026 season.
“Yes, trying to keep ourselves entertained,” Alonso said after the Miami GP.
“Lance and I always talk about it every morning – whether we’ll be together or if not, wait for each other or whatever, to learn a bit about energy management and all that since we didn’t do many kilometres in winter.”
“With Checo we tried to do the same, a bit of entertainment, and today we had a bit more pace than them.”
Indeed, Cadillac’s Sergio Perez confirmed: “Battling with Fernando is always a lot of fun – he’s a super aggressive, very intelligent driver.”
“When he pulls away, you know he’s planning something, and when he closes in, it’s the same. His moves are always calculated.”
“He’s also a super clean driver. I hope he doesn’t improve too quickly so we can keep enjoying it.”
The reality, however, remains stark for Aston Martin.
While reliability – and the long-running vibration issue – is now under control, performance gains are not expected for months.
“We haven’t had any reliability issues, which is the positive note,” Alonso said. “It’s the second race in a row that we’ve finished without any problems.”
“But the race pace wasn’t anything special. We were trying to hang on and not lose ground with what we could do.”
Crucially, meaningful upgrades are not expected until much later in the season.
“It doesn’t affect us much because we don’t have any new parts planned for Canada,” Alonso said, when asked about the sole practice session at the next event in Montreal.
“I don’t think we’ll bring any parts until race 12 or 14. We’ll make progress with this driving ability, but not with performance. So, tough races are coming.”
Despite the situation, Alonso insists he understands the bigger picture.
“I’m calm because I understand the situation,” he said.
“The team explained to me that if we gain one or two tenths in each race, it doesn’t change our position. We’re P20 or P19 and the next car is a second ahead, so even if we gain two tenths in each race, it won’t change our position.”
Even his humour reflects the reality.
Asked what result might convince him to think more seriously about his future, 44-year-old Alonso joked: “If I manage a fifth-place finish in any race, I’ll retire that very afternoon.”
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