Fernando Alonso believes Aston Martin’s performance will not improve until the second half of the season after a wretched start to the 2026 F1 campaign.
Aston’s new partnership with power unit provider Honda has been blighted with issues, with neither driver progressing from Q1 in qualifying or scoring a point. They are rock bottom of the championship standings on zero points, alongside new team Cadillac, after four rounds.
Furthermore, Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll have been impacted by drivability issues, with violent car vibrations a common problem. Team principal Adrian Newey revealed at the season-opener in Australia that both drivers were worried about “permanent nerve damage” to their hands and feet.
On Sunday in Miami, both Alonso and Stroll finished a lap down, in 15th and 17th respectively, and the 44-year-old is resigned to similar results over the next few months.
Asked if the next race in Canada will bring about improvement, Alonsi said: "No, let's see. I think we will make steps on that drivability point of view. Performance: not. So we need to stick together with the team. It's going to be a very tough, tough race.
"It's going to feel repetitive, obviously, we need to face the media every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday."
When a journalist in the print media pen then apologised, Alonso replied: "No, it's good and you do your job. We drive fast, but it's repetitive, the message.
“We have no upgrades until after summer. What we expect in Canada is the same, what we expect in Austria [in late June] is the same. That's the thing that we need to manage, the frustration level from everybody in the team, but I think we are all relaxed.
"We are all committed to, after summer, having a better second half of the year. Let's see if we can do that."
Alonso did reveal last month that he is open to staying in F1 beyond the end of this season, when his current contract expires. The two-time world champion, who won his titles in 2005 and 2006 for Renault, will have raced in nearly 450 grands prix by the end of the current campaign.
