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Despite recording his third retirement of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso has detailed why he has ‘more hope’ for Aston Martin at the next round of racing.
The two-time world champion was able to see the chequered flag in Suzuka and Miami, but an issue with his seat ended up scuppering his hopes of completing the most recent Canadian Grand Prix.
It was a terrible stroke of luck for Alonso, who had put his poor-performing Aston Martin AMR26 into P12 before being forced to retire the car on lap 23.
When will Aston Martin score their first podium of the Adrian Newey era?
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While the race was unlikely to yield any points, it was still an encouraging race for the Spaniard. He now goes into the next stop on the calendar at Monaco with renewed ‘hope’.
- READ MORE: Honda saw ‘positive signs’ from AMR26 as Fernando Alonso delivers season-best performance
Fernando Alonso names the one reason why he has ‘more hope’ for the Monaco Grand Prix
Despite his venture into the midfield positions during the race, Alonso continued to outline how frustrating it was to be fighting with sub-par machinery.
After boycotting the Spanish media in Montreal due to an ongoing spat with a DAZN commentator, he told journalists via Sport.es, “More than the retirement, what was frustrating was the pace.
“We had a good start, but little by little we fell behind and returned to our natural position. We didn’t have the necessary pace to maintain that good start. It was fun; the start and gaining positions, because we can take more risks than the others.”
Still, Alonso has taken a lot of positives from being able to run among his more prepared rivals at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Due to the lack of reliance on engine power on the streets of Monte Carlo, he sees the next round as a good opportunity.
“We missed out on points, but we’ll see what happens in the next race,” the Spaniard added. “I think it’s been a slightly better weekend than the last few, a bit more competitive.
“Let’s see if we can maintain this trend. Next up is Monaco. A very different and very slow circuit. The engine will be a little less important. So perhaps there’s a bit more hope.”
- READ MORE: Aston Martin stunned by Fernando Alonso’s ‘spectacular’ result in Canadian GP Sprint qualifying
Aston Martin have actually completed more laps of racing than McLaren in 2026
Despite the vast amount of issues that Aston Martin have faced during the opening stages of 2026, they have actually seen more track time than reigning world champions McLaren in the Grand Prix format.
Remarkably, the Silverstone-based constructor have raced four more laps than their Woking-based counterparts this year, spurred on by the reliability issues McLaren have faced.
Even Aston Martin have had better reliability than McLaren this year. Are the world champions already out of contention for the constructors’ title?
Of course, Oscar Piastri’s lack of track time at his home race was nobody’s fault but his own, but the team then failed to field either car at all in the following Chinese Grand Prix.
During the Canadian Grand Prix, Lando Norris was forced to retire after 38 laps due to a gearbox issue, severely hindering the 2025 title-winner’s chances of defending his maiden championship.
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