‘Fundamental problem’ – Fernando Alonso sets timeline for Aston Martin fix

Fernando Alonso has accepted that Aston Martin will likely be hamstrung by its “fundamental problem” until after the F1 2026 summer break.

And he believes the team will only close the three-second deficit to the front by extracting more power from the Honda engine and adding more downforce to the AMR26 car.

Fernando Alonso outlines Aston Martin-Honda improvement timeline

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The team has hinted previously that it will likely look to bring a significant upgrade package later in the season in the hope of combatting its early issues, alongside smaller incremental updates.

Alonso had a superb start to the recent Canadian Grand Prix, going from 19th to 10th as he lapped around the fringes of the points in the early stages.

While he eventually fell back slightly, before being forced to into a mid-race retirement due to an issue with his seat, which was making him “more and more uncomfortable” as the race panned out, the early signs appeared more positive for the Silverstone-based team.

Chief trackside officer Mike Krack warned, however, that the team “needs to get its act together” in certain areas due to the nature of Alonso’s DNF.

The two-time world champion confirmed the team is looking towards a post-summer break improvement after July’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Honda’s trackside general manager, Shintaro Orihara, revealed that is when it is targeting gains on Aston Martin’s power unit and Alonso admitted he is “relaxed” about the prospect of at least another six races running towards the back.

Asked about his weekend in Montréal, Alonso replied: “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 vs Lance Stroll: Aston Martin head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

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Alonso pointed to the gap he faced to cars ahead in qualifying as an example of the progression Aston Martin is taking in the meantime, with the gap to get out of Q1 reducing from over a second in Miami to around 0.3s in Canada.

While bigger plans will likely have to wait until after the summer, the Spaniard said the team is learning with every lap, but confirmed the power unit and aerodynamic package will be behind more significant gains later in the season.

“There is progress, always,” he 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.”

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