Fernando Alonso Gives Bleak Aston Martin Prediction for Chinese GP

Fernando Alonso has conceded Aston Martin faces more of the same struggles at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix after a difficult start to the Formula 1 season in Australia.

Neither he nor teammate Lance Stroll completed the race distance, retiring before the checkered flag, having already returned to the garage for fixes to issues that lasted at least 10 laps.

It was a surprise that the duo completed as many laps as they had, given the pre-weekend warning from team principal Adrian Newey about excessive vibrations from the Honda power unit, which raised health concerns about potential nerve damage for the drivers.

Aston Martin stuck with trouble

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, Australian GP 2026 — Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Alonso narrowly missed out on Q2 and made his way up to 10th with a stellar first lap on Sunday before reality returned, with multiple issues eventually bringing an end to his day.

“Being P10 for two laps was unexpected, but I think the start is not our problem," said Alonso, as per Crash.net. While everyone else was struggling for the boost or whatever they had, for us, it was a clean lap.

“Obviously, completely out of position, P10, so I fall back to P17, or whatever. And then we have a small issue on data that we have to stop the car. And then we think we repaired it, and then we went back out again. And I think another issue appears, so we have to stop the car for the second time.”

Teammate Stroll hardly completed any laps before raceday before joining Alonso in what was a glorified test session for the AMR26 on Sunday.

Another critical problem facing Aston Martin is the shortage of Honda batteries at this stage of the season, with the team already having gone through two of the four made available by the Japanese manufacturer.

And with that in mind, Alonso is expecting "no different" in China this weekend as F1 prepares for its first sprint round of the season at the Shanghai International Circuit.

“For sure, we have the same car, the same power unit next weekend," he explained. "So I expect another tough weekend. But meanwhile, we cannot give up.

“We need to keep on trying different solutions, especially on the chassis, and try to understand and get better in the package in general. I think we are not optimized in anything yet, because the lack of mileage, so China will be another good opportunity.”