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The second round of the 2026 F1 season was another disaster for Aston Martin, with both cars retiring from the Chinese Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso’s onboard footage has further fuelled the flames of Aston Martin fans’ fury with the Silverstone-based F1 team.
While Kimi Antonelli was out in front on his way to a maiden Grand Prix victory in F1, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll continued to struggle at the wheel of Aston Martin’s AMR26.
The plaudits go to Kimi Antonelli, but who else in the top 10 impressed you at the Chinese Grand Prix?
Let us know in the comments below!
Both cars actually managed to finish the Shanghai Sprint on Saturday afternoon, but a full Grand Prix distance still looks to be out of reach for Aston Martin as issues with their Honda power unit continue to persist.
Stroll caused the only safety car of the race with his retirement on lap nine, while Alonso managed to get in over triple the amount of laps in what can only be described as another testing session for the British constructor this season.
- READ MORE: Kimi Antonelli wins the Chinese Grand Prix with George Russell securing second one-two for Mercedes
F1 fans slam Aston Martin after seeing Fernando Alonso’s ‘unacceptable’ onboard footage
After Alonso returned to his Aston Martin garage to retire the AMR26 on lap 32, a clip emerged on social media that showed the Spaniard trying to alleviate some of the tension in his hands that were being caused by vibrations from Honda’s power unit.
Fans were furious, especially after hearing Adrian Newey’s claim that permanent nerve damage could be the result of prolonged exposure to the problematic power unit last week.
Should F1 stop Aston Martin from racing after Adrian Newey revealed Fernando Alonso’s ‘nerve damage’ fears?
One fan commented on X, formerly Twitter, “Let‘s hope he didn‘t get that permanent nerve damage Newey was talking about.”
Another fan sarcastically laid out all of the issues that Aston Martin have created for themselves with the new AMR26, posting, “Slow, not reliable, not safe, bad for driver health. Great job.”
The health of Alonso and Stroll in the cockpit was an overwhelming concern for the majority of fans, with another X user commenting, “Congratulations for playing with the drivers’ health. This is unacceptable…”
One keen-eyed user also saw Alonso trying to get some respite from the massive amounts of vibrations, commenting, “Poor Fernando. We saw him try to rest his hands while on the straight in the couple of last laps to avoid the car’s vibration before retiring.”
Despite the AMR26 being one of the most highly-anticipated cars of 2026, it has fallen short of expectations by a full Grand Prix distance.
One fan asked, “How could you have made such a monumental blunder? It’s unacceptable,” while another F1 fanatic noted their sympathy for the Spaniard, writing, “What a shame about the car. I feel sorry for Alonso.”
- READ MORE: Fernando Alonso explains why the Chinese Grand Prix was the ‘worst spectacle’ for Formula 1
Fernando Alonso says the vibrations at the Chinese GP were even ‘worse’ than last weekend
In Aston Martin’s post-race press release, Alonso issued a statement on the calibre of discomfort that he was in at the wheel of the AMR26 in Shanghai.
He said, “I had fun at the start again, and it seems this is a strong point of our car as we jumped up to P10.
“However, from about lap 20, I was struggling with the vibration levels, and we were already one lap down, so in the end we decided to retire the car.
“The vibrations seemed worse today than on any other day of the weekend, so we need to investigate why that was. It’s clear we need more time to fix everything, but we’ll go again in two weeks’ time in Japan.”
The Japanese Grand Prix will be a flash point for Honda. The Japanese engine manufacturer hold the race weekend in Suzuka in the highest regard, and another disappointing performance will be difficult to hide from the passionate local fans.
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