Upset Fernando Alonso is ‘causing trouble again’ behind the scenes at Aston Martin

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Fernando Alonso is ‘laying it on thick’ internally while trying to ‘protect’ Aston Martin in the media, one journalist says. Alonso has started the 2026 season with consecutive DNFs.

Aston Martin’s car has hardly run smoothly since it rolled out of the garage for pre-season testing, so that outcome isn’t a surprise. They are lacking performance as well as reliability, with Alonso only able to qualify 19th at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Remarkable onboard footage from Sunday’s race showed Alonso repeatedly taking his hands off the wheel for a momentary respite from the well-publicised vibrations. He also appeared to wave at Sergio Perez when the Cadillac driver blasted past him.

Is Fernando Alonso becoming a disruptive presence at Aston Martin?

Aston Martin aimed to compete for race wins under the regulations, but they are jostling with Cadillac at the back of the grid. Still, Alonso hasn’t made any incendiary remarks in the press, instead sounding patient.

“We need to give Honda more time,” he said after Sunday’s race, via ESPN. Aston Martin believe Adrian Newey’s chassis is one of the top five on the grid and have placed the onus on their engine suppliers to lift them from the mire.

But according to F1 Insider’s Ralf Bach, Alonso is ‘hurting’ and is letting it show behind the scenes, even at the risk of ‘demotivating’ his colleagues. The 44-year-old’s chances of winning a third title or even a 33rd race before he retires appear slimmer than ever.

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“What’s really hurting is his soul,” Bach said last week. “I’ve heard that he’s causing trouble again within the team.

“Outwardly, he still comes across quite well, protecting the team a bit, but apparently he really lays it on thick when it comes to internal matters, and that can very quickly have a demotivating effect, but Alonso is just the way he is.

“He’s probably only a two-time world champion partly because he’s often gone too far with internal team politics. It is what it is, and I think that’s the case with Aston Martin too, as we’ve heard.”

Flavio Briatore called Fernando Alonso’s troublemaker reputation ‘rubbish’

Alonso has often been labelled a troublemaker during his 24 seasons in F1. The toxicity peaked during the 2007 season when he felt that McLaren were giving teammate Lewis Hamilton preferential treatment.

The last time he raced with Honda engines during his second stint at McLaren, his criticism of the Japanese manufacturer was scathing. At their home race in 2015, he infamously said their engine was ‘GP2’ standard.

During his two-year stint at Alpine, Alonso also fell out with teammate Esteban Ocon, culminating in two collisions at the Sao Paulo GP.

But speaking in an interview last year, Flavio Briatore said Alonso’s reputation of being ‘difficult to manage’ is ‘rubbish’. Briatore was in charge of the Renault team when the Spaniard won his two world titles in 2005 and 2006 and has continued to oversee his career as an agent.