- Alonso targets Monaco to mask Aston Martin’s current engine weaknesses.
- Major AMR26 upgrades are delayed until around the F1 summer break.
- Alonso finds optimism for Monaco despite Lance Stroll’s blunt realism.
Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin may have a better chance at Monaco because engine performance will matter less, but the team is still waiting until the summer break for a real AMR26 upgrade step.
Formula 1’s official site reported that Alonso saw signs of progress from the Aston Martin in Canada, even though his race ended on Lap 23 because of a seat issue. Alonso had started 19th, gained ground early on and briefly ran inside the top 10 before the team retired his car.
Alonso said Aston Martin seemed faster in Canada than it had been in Miami with the same package, but made clear that genuine performance is expected to arrive with upgrades after the summer break rather than over the next few races.
He also offered a Monaco-specific reason for cautious optimism, pointing out that Monaco is slow and that the engine will be less important there, giving Aston Martin what he called “extra hope” for the June 5-7 weekend.
Hope for a Monano leveller
Aston Martin are still bottom of the constructors’ standings on zero points, so they have a very long way to go. It is, however, a useful marker for those trying to gauge whether the team’s 2026 struggles are going to ease anytime soon.
Monaco is the one track where Aston Martin can plausibly argue that its weaknesses may be less exposed. If the car is draggy, underpowered or still short of raw straight-line speed, the tight street circuit at least reduces the effect of some, or all, of those.
That doesn’t mean Alonso is about to get a podium. But it does mean that Monaco could give Aston Martin a cleaner test of mechanical grip, traction, tyre prep and driver confidence in the car before the bigger development push arrives later.
So far, their season has been hampered by reliability, power-unit and performance problems in the first year of its Honda works partnership. Miami was the first weekend where both Alonso and Lance Stroll both finished the race, and Canada then offered mixed signals: Alonso’s race had promise before retirement, while Stroll finished 15th and admitted the car still lacked grip and straight-line pace.
Big summer break reset for Aston Martin
The contrast between the two drivers’ post-Canada verdicts was telling. Alonso found signs of encouragement and a reason not to fear Monaco. Stroll was blunt and said the team still has a lot of work to do before the car reaches the required level.
Monaco begins with practice on Friday, June 5, before qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday. Because it is so qualifying-heavy, Aston Martin’s first real test will be whether Alonso or Stroll can escape the back of the grid and put the car into a position where race pace can matter.
After that, their attention will shift to their upgrade timeline. Alonso’s comments suggest the team is not expecting a major step before the summer break, so any strong Monaco showing should be treated as circuit-specific unless Aston Martin can back it up at the more conventional European tracks.
