Aston Martin pinpoints to driveability as limiting factor for its 2026 F1 car
Having scored their first championship point in 2026, Aston Martin has pinpointed to driveability as limiting factor for its 2026 F1 car following their difficult start to the all-new technical era.
Aston Martin’s difficult start to the Monaco Grand Prix weekend was underscored by Fernando Alonso’s dramatic moment in FP1, when the Spaniard snapped sideways under braking into the harbour chicane and narrowly avoided a full spin.
While Alonso escaped with only a broken front wing, the incident highlighted deeper drivability issues within Aston Martin’s 2026 package — concerns that team representative Pedro de la Rosa openly acknowledged.
Asked whether the moment was linked to the gearbox‑related complaints Alonso and Lance Stroll have raised in recent weeks, de la Rosa admitted that the team had not yet fully analysed the data but confirmed that the root cause was a major rear‑locking event.
“I don’t really know exactly what happened in the sense that it was rear locking, but I don’t really know, because I haven’t been able to look at the data, if it was related to the downshift or not. But obviously it was a massive rear-locking issue,” he explained.
Alonso’s instinctive response prevented a far more dramatic crash. “He let go of the brakes at one point just to recover, otherwise it would have been a full spin, so he did very well to come out of that with just a little broken front wing.”
But for de la Rosa, the moment was symptomatic of a broader problem: the car’s inconsistent behaviour under braking and downshifting. “I guess it’s all part of the same problem, the driveability, predictability of the car when you brake, the downshift, which affects the brake balance, and then you move it rearwards in a way that it affects the downshift even further.”
The team ambassador stressed that he had not yet spoken to Alonso or reviewed the full telemetry, but the conclusion was already clear. “I haven’t looked at the data, I haven’t spoken with Fernando, to be honest. But it is definitely not an easy car to drive.
"When you see Fernando locking the rears going to the chicane in that way, you can imagine how difficult it must be around, because the chicane you arrive very fast, but there’s a big run-off area. There’s not a lot of runoff area in Casino, for example, Turn 3, when you go in and you brake into the apex.”
De la Rosa explained that the 2026 regulations have made torque delivery under downshifting more challenging for teams and drivers, especially as drivers attempt to maximise energy recovery.
“It’s something that we’re working on – driveability, predictability. This year, it is still more challenging for the teams and the power units to deliver a constant torque under downshifting.
"Drivers are trying to use a very short gear in the apexes just to recharge more the battery, which makes it even worse, if the whole downshifting process is not smooth enough.”
