Fernando Alonso says the progress Aston Martin has made with its current car has given him more confidence about their chances in 2026.
It took Alonso until the Spanish Grand Prix to score his first points this season, though he has finished in the top 10 almost every time since then. He said the car feels “a lot better than at the start of the season” following the upgrades Aston Martin have introduced.
“I think my first point in the championship came in race eight or race nine,” he said. “At the beginning I think we didn’t have a car to be in the top ten on Sundays and now it seems that we are able to fight in the midfield and to score points regularly.
“In the last nine races I think I’ve been seven times in Q3, in the top 10, so definitely it is a very different car now.”
Aston Martin’s updates have improved the car’s aerodynamic balance and made it more predictable to drive,” said Alonso.
“It is better on the aero platform. We didn’t change much mechanically on the set-up. Yes, we are working a little bit weekend to weekend, but I think aerodynamically, the car is a lot more stable, a lot easier to drive, and we can put the laps together.”
He scored Aston Martin’s best result of the season so far with fifth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix. However Alonso suspects the team will be less competitive at Monza, which requires a car with strong straight-line speed.
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“I think we come to Monza a little bit more cautious about our performance,” he admitted. “The last efficiency circuit was Spa and we were not that fast in Spa. So we’ll see.
“We made some changes after Spa on the set-up of the car and how we approach the weekends. So hopefully we can be a little bit better but I think on paper it’s not the same track, Monza, as the last two races.”
The team is focussing its efforts on its new car for the 2026 season, when F1 introduces new technical regulations. Alonso said the team’s improvement “definitely” gives him increased confidence for next year.
“To trust the tools that we have in the factory and bring things to the track that actually deliver what was expected from them is obviously a very good thing,” he said. “We didn’t have that in 2023 and in 2024.
“So it’s good to go back to a more normal factory-track correlation and develop the 2026 car next winter knowing that the tools are correct.”
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