Formula 1
Formula 1 is the highest-profile single-seater racing championship in the world, with the 2026 calendar originally announced as a 24-race global season across five continents. For Fuel the Passion, the focus is Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team: the Silverstone-based works team running the AMR26 with Honda power, driven by Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. This page follows the team’s race results, technical direction, driver stories and the wider Aston Martin performance narrative through the season.
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.
Formula 1 - Season So Far Summary
The 2026 Formula 1 season has now completed six rounds: Australia, China, Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco. Mercedes remains the team setting the early pace. George Russell won the opening race in Australia, but since then Kimi Antonelli has taken control of the championship with five consecutive Grand Prix victories in China, Japan, Miami, Canada and now Monaco. After Monaco, Antonelli leads the Drivers’ Championship on 156 points, ahead of Lewis Hamilton on 90 and George Russell on 88.
Monaco was one of the most chaotic races of the season so far. Antonelli won from Mercedes, with Hamilton second for Ferrari and Isack Hadjar third for Red Bull Racing. The race was disrupted by late incidents involving Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc, a Safety Car, a red flag for track-surface inspection, and several penalties. Max Verstappen retired at the start, Lando Norris also failed to finish, and George Russell finished outside the points after penalties.
For Aston Martin, Monaco finally brought the first point of the 2026 season, but it was not a sign of a major performance breakthrough. Fernando Alonso was classified 10th, one lap from a points finish on merit but ultimately promoted into the final points position after Sergio Perez was demoted by a post-race penalty. That gave Alonso and Aston Martin their first point of the year, lifting the team to 10th in the Constructors’ Championship on 1 point, ahead of Cadillac on 0.
The weekend still underlined the scale of Aston Martin’s challenge. Alonso had already said the AMR26 was struggling with front grip, heavy understeer and inconsistent behaviour, while Aston Martin’s own Friday notes described a car lacking the consistency and predictability needed around Monaco. Stroll’s race then ended after a crash at Anthony Noghes, adding another difficult moment to an already frustrating weekend for the team.
After Monaco, Alonso sits 18th in the Drivers’ Championship with 1 point, while Stroll remains 22nd with 0. The wider Aston Martin picture is therefore slightly improved, but still difficult: the team is no longer pointless, yet the AMR26 remains a car that appears to need a significant mid-season step rather than small race-by-race gains.
The current FTP reading remains honest and proportionate. Monaco gave Aston Martin a long-awaited point and a small lift in the championship table, but the result came through survival, penalties and race disruption rather than outright pace. As the season moves towards Barcelona and the next phase of European races, the key question is whether Aston Martin can turn that first point into genuine performance progress.
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.
Latest Result
Monaco Grand Prix
Circuit de Monaco | 5–7 June 2026
Kimi Antonelli continued his remarkable early-season form with victory in Monaco, finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Isack Hadjar after a chaotic race shaped by penalties, incidents and late disruption. For Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso brought home the team’s first point of the 2026 season with 10th place, while Lance Stroll retired after crashing out.
Top 10
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap / Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | Winner |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +6.271s |
| 3 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull Racing | +23.394s |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +24.261s |
| 5 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +26.553s |
| 6 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | +29.010s |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +30.369s |
| 8 | Alexander Albon | Williams | +33.413s |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | +37.140s |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | First Aston point of 2026 |
Aston Martin Focus
| Pos | Driver | Team | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | Finished 10th, +41.899s — 1 point |
| NC | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | DNF after 56 laps |
Championship Standings
Formula 1 Standings
Aston Martin focus after the Monaco Grand Prix.
Constructors
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | 244 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 165 |
| 3 | McLaren | 118 |
| 4 | Red Bull Racing | 72 |
| 5 | Alpine | 41 |
| 6 | Racing Bulls | 39 |
| 7 | Haas F1 Team | 21 |
| 8 | Williams | 11 |
| 9 | Audi | 2 |
| 10 | Aston Martin | 1 |
| 11 | Cadillac | 0 |
Drivers — Aston Martin Focus
| Pos | Driver | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 0 |
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.
Race 06 - Monaco, Aston Martin finally scores, but Monaco doesn’t hide the bigger AMR26 problem
The 2026 Monaco Grand Prix delivered the kind of drama only Monaco can produce: a dominant winner, late Safety Cars, a red flag, penalties, track-surface concerns and a heavily reshuffled points order. At the front, Kimi Antonelli continued his remarkable start to the season, taking victory for Mercedes ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari and Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull. It was Antonelli’s fifth consecutive Grand Prix win and another clear sign that Mercedes currently has the strongest package in the early phase of the 2026 season.
The race changed shape late on. Lance Stroll crashed at Anthony Noghes on lap 60, bringing out the first Safety Car, before Charles Leclerc then crashed at the same corner. The FIA halted the race while debris was cleared and the track surface was inspected, with the governing body noting that a recently resurfaced section at the final corner had degraded and left asphalt debris on the racing line. After a lengthy stoppage, the race resumed for a short sprint to the flag, with Antonelli controlling the restart and completing the win.
For Aston Martin, Monaco finally produced the team’s first point of the 2026 Formula 1 season. Fernando Alonso had originally crossed the line 11th, but Sergio Perez was later penalised after the restart procedure, dropping the Cadillac driver from 10th to 15th and promoting Alonso into the final points-paying position. That gave Alonso 10th place and Aston Martin its first championship point of the year.
Alonso’s race was a reminder of why Monaco can still reward experience and opportunism, even when outright car performance is lacking. Aston Martin went aggressive early, stopping Alonso on lap three and committing to a strategy that required him to keep the car alive, stay out of trouble and then take advantage when the race came back towards him. The late Safety Car and red flag helped, but Alonso still had to manage the restarts and avoid the mistakes that caught out others. His reward was modest in pure championship terms, but important symbolically: Aston Martin is no longer pointless in 2026.
The other side of Aston Martin’s afternoon was far less positive. Stroll’s crash ended his race and triggered the first major late-race interruption. He said afterwards that the team had been dealing with drivability issues throughout the season, particularly inconsistent acceleration and deceleration, and that Monaco’s barriers leave no margin when the car behaves unpredictably. Mike Krack also said Aston Martin would investigate Stroll’s retirement, noting possible deceleration-phase issues and the breaking-up track surface as factors to review.
So while the headline is positive; Aston Martin scores its first point of the season, the underlying picture remains difficult. Alonso’s 10th place was earned through patience, survival and race management rather than a clear step forward in pace. Monaco rewarded the team for staying alert when others made mistakes, but it didn’t suddenly transform the AMR26 into a competitive midfield car.
For Fuel the Passion, the reading is honest but not dismissive. This was a useful result, and the first point with Honda power is a milestone worth noting. But Aston Martin still needs more than isolated opportunities created by chaotic races. As the championship moves on to Barcelona, the real question is whether the team can turn Monaco’s small reward into genuine performance progress.
FTP Summary Line
Monaco finally gave Aston Martin its first point of the 2026 Formula 1 season through Fernando Alonso’s 10th place, but the result came from survival, race management and late-race chaos rather than a genuine AMR26 breakthrough.
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.
Race 05 - Canada
The Canadian Grand Prix offered Aston Martin a brief moment of encouragement, but not the result the team needed. After a difficult qualifying session, Fernando Alonso started 19th and Lance Stroll started from the pitlane after a battery change on his AMR26. Conditions were awkward at the start, with rain having fallen before the race and track temperatures much lower than the previous day, but the surface had dried enough for both Aston Martins to begin on Soft tyres.
Alonso made the better start. Aston Martin reported that he was already up to P14 by the end of Lap 1, and Alonso later said he had a good start and was “fighting into the top ten positions”. That’s probably the fairest way to describe it for FTP: not a confirmed points run, but a genuine early-race recovery from the back end of the grid into the edge of the top-ten battle.
The promise unfortunately didn’t last. Alonso pitted on Lap 21 for another set of Soft tyres, but after 23 laps he retired with what Aston Martin described as a seat issue. Mike Krack said the problem was making Alonso uncomfortable in the cockpit, so the team chose to retire the car on Lap 24. Alonso said the team had made the right call starting on Softs, but the seat problem ended his race early.
Stroll’s race was more straightforward but still outside the points. He pitted on Lap 16 for fresh Softs, then stopped again under the Virtual Safety Car on Lap 53 for Medium tyres. Aston Martin described his afternoon as a conventional two-stop race, and he ultimately finished 15th, four laps down. Stroll said it had been a difficult weekend, with the team struggling for grip and straight-line pace.
At the front, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli took another victory after George Russell retired from the lead fight with a power-unit issue. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished second, with Max Verstappen third for Red Bull. For Aston Martin, though, Canada kept the same broad theme as the opening part of the season: occasional signs of improvement, but still no points and no sustained race pace.
Aston Martin’s latest official Canadian GP reaction is clear and quite measured: Lance finished P15, Fernando retired because of a seat issue, and the team acknowledged it simply doesn’t have enough pace at the moment. Krack’s key line was that the team made a decent start with both drivers gaining ground, but “unfortunately, we do not have more pace at the moment and this is our position.”
The next stop is Monaco, a very different challenge and one where outright straight-line speed matters less than confidence, traction, braking stability and precision. For Aston Martin, that could make the weekend especially interesting. The AMR26 still needs a clear step forward, but Monaco may offer a better opportunity to understand whether the team can put Alonso and Stroll closer to the midfield fight when qualifying, track position and race execution become even more important than usual.
FTP Summary Line
Canada gave Aston Martin a brief early flash of promise through Fernando Alonso’s opening-lap progress into the points, but the weekend ultimately ended without reward: Lance Stroll finished 15th, while Alonso retired after 23 laps with a seat issue.
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.
Race 04 - Miami
The fourth Grand Prix of the 2026 Formula 1 season took the championship to Miami, where Kimi Antonelli continued his remarkable early-season run with a third consecutive Grand Prix victory for Mercedes. Antonelli won ahead of Lando Norris for McLaren, with Oscar Piastri completing the podium after passing Charles Leclerc late on. George Russell finished fourth, Max Verstappen fifth, and Lewis Hamilton inherited sixth after Leclerc received a post-race penalty.
For Aston Martin, Miami was another non-scoring weekend, though both cars reached the finish. Fernando Alonso started 17th and finished 15th, one lap down. Lance Stroll started 18th and finished 17th, also one lap down. That gave Aston Martin a cleaner race distance than the opening rounds, but not a competitive result. The team left Miami still without points after four completed Grands Prix.
The race itself was eventful, with early incidents for Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly bringing out the Safety Car, while Verstappen and Leclerc both received penalties. Alonso was noted by the stewards for a yellow-flag infringement during the race, but the final classification still placed him 15th. From an Aston Martin point of view, the most important fact is simple: the AMR26 completed the race with both cars, but remained too far from the points-paying positions to change the competitive picture.
From a Fuel the Passion perspective, Miami was a small reliability step but not a performance step. After the difficult opening run of Australia, China and Japan, getting both Aston Martins to the flag was useful. But finishing 15th and 17th, still one lap down and still scoreless, shows that the team’s Formula 1 story remains one of recovery work rather than momentum. The next race in Canada now becomes another checkpoint for whether Aston Martin can turn race finishes into genuine progress.
FTP Summary Line
Aston Martin left Miami with both cars classified, which was a cleaner outcome than some of the opening races, but still without points. Alonso finished 15th and Stroll 17th, both one lap down, leaving Aston Martin 11th in the constructors’ standings and still waiting for its first score of the 2026 season.
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.
Race 03 - Japanese GP
The third Grand Prix of the 2026 Formula 1 season took place at Suzuka, where Kimi Antonelli continued Mercedes’ strong opening run by taking victory ahead of Oscar Piastri for McLaren and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari. George Russell finished fourth in the second Mercedes, with Lando Norris fifth for McLaren. It left Mercedes with another race win and confirmed Antonelli as one of the early headline stories of the season.
For Aston Martin, Japan was still a difficult weekend, but it did at least bring the team’s first chequered flag of the season. Fernando Alonso started 21st and finished 18th, one lap down, while Lance Stroll started 22nd and retired after 30 laps. The official race result listed Alonso 18th and Stroll as not classified, with both cars again outside the points.
The Aston Martin race was largely fought at the back of the field. Honda’s official race report noted that Alonso made a strong start, while Stroll also gained ground on the opening lap. The two Aston Martins then ran close together before the Safety Car period following Oliver Bearman’s crash, after which both cars pitted. Stroll was later called into the garage with a suspected issue, while Alonso continued and brought the car home despite a late off at the final chicane.
From a Fuel the Passion perspective, Suzuka was not a result to overstate. Aston Martin remained without points and without competitive pace. But after Australia and China had both ended without a classified finish, Alonso reaching the flag did represent a small but genuine step in terms of reliability and race-distance learning. The honest reading is that Japan gave Aston Martin something to build from, but not yet anything that looked like meaningful competitiveness.
FTP Summary Line
Aston Martin left Japan still without points, but with Alonso securing the team’s first race finish of the season. It was a small reliability step after two very difficult opening rounds, though Stroll’s retirement and the lack of pace showed how much work remained before Miami.
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.
Race 02 - Chinese GP
The second Grand Prix of the 2026 Formula 1 season took the championship to Shanghai, where Kimi Antonelli claimed his first Formula 1 victory for Mercedes. After starting from pole, Antonelli briefly lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton at the start, but retook control before the end of Lap 2 and went on to win by 5.515 seconds from team-mate George Russell. Hamilton completed the podium for Ferrari, ahead of Charles Leclerc, while Oliver Bearman finished fifth for Haas.
For Aston Martin, China brought another difficult Sunday. Lance Stroll retired after just nine laps, his stranded car at Turn 1 causing the race’s only Safety Car period. Fernando Alonso lasted longer, completing 32 laps before also retiring. The official classification listed both Aston Martins as not classified, with Alonso and Stroll leaving Shanghai without points.
The wider race was marked by attrition as well as Antonelli’s breakthrough. Max Verstappen also failed to finish, while both McLarens, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, did not start after separate power-unit electrical issues. That wider context matters, but it does not soften Aston Martin’s position: in a race where reliability and survival could have offered opportunity, both AMR26s retired and the team left the second round still without a point.
From a Fuel the Passion perspective, the Chinese Grand Prix reinforced the early-season pattern rather than changed it. Australia had been a difficult opening chapter built around mileage and data-gathering; China was harder to frame positively because both cars again failed to reach the finish. At this stage, Aston Martin’s F1 story remained one of reliability, performance shortfall and the need to turn race weekends into usable progress before the season began to move away from them.
FTP Summary Line
Aston Martin left China with a second consecutive non-scoring weekend and another double non-classification. Stroll’s early retirement brought out the Safety Car, Alonso also failed to finish, and the team’s difficult start to 2026 continued without points or a clear competitive step forward.
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.
Race 01 - Australian GP
The 2026 Formula 1 season began at Albert Park with Mercedes taking early control of the championship narrative. George Russell won the Australian Grand Prix for Mercedes, with team-mate Kimi Antonelli second and Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth for Ferrari, while Lando Norris completed the top five for McLaren. For Aston Martin, however, the opening round was less about points and more about getting the AMR26 through meaningful running after a disrupted build-up.
Fernando Alonso started 17th and made an excellent opening lap, climbing to 10th by the end of Lap 1. That was the high point of Aston Martin’s race. Alonso later had to return to the pits for checks, briefly rejoined to gather further mileage, and was ultimately listed as not classified after completing 21 laps. Lance Stroll started from the back after missing qualifying, following an issue in FP3, and completed 43 laps before also being classified as not classified, 15 laps down.
The team’s own race reaction made clear that Australia was being treated partly as a learning exercise. Aston Martin said its drivers gathered information over a combined 64 laps, while Alonso described the start as the best part of his race and said the team had collected useful data from procedures that had been difficult to practise properly during the troubled pre-season and Melbourne weekend. Stroll also described the race as “like a practice session” for the team, with the aim of getting laps and trying different solutions.
From a Fuel the Passion perspective, this was not a race to dress up as progress in the normal competitive sense. Aston Martin left Australia with no points, no classified finish, and clear reliability and performance questions still to answer. But the weekend did at least provide mileage, pit-stop practice, race starts, and data for a team that had arrived in Melbourne short of clean running. The honest reading is that Australia was a difficult opening chapter, but also the first proper baseline from which Aston Martin could begin to measure whether the AMR26 could be made more reliable and more competitive over the following rounds.
FTP Summary Line
Aston Martin left Australia without points or a classified finish, but with valuable early mileage after a deeply disrupted opening weekend. Alonso’s first lap showed instinct and racecraft; the wider result showed how much work still lay ahead.
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.
Image © Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Used for editorial purposes.