Fernando Alonso has warned that Aston Martin’s woeful start to the 2026 Formula 1 season will not change for “a few months”.

Aston Martin has begun the new era of F1 at the foot of the table, despite spending significant sums on a new factory, wind tunnel, and key hires, including the legendary designer, Adrian Newey.

The team has battled significant reliability issues across testing and the opening three rounds of the season, with severe vibrations limiting running due to fears of permanent nerve damage to drivers Alonso and Lance Stroll. Such were the problems in China, that Alonso was seen driving with his hands off the wheel on the straights, to give his hands a rest from the forces.

Suggested by Crash.net that one positive from Japan was that reliability had improved, Alonso said: “Yeah. Obviously, on the positive side, yes, that is true. We had running without too many issues the last two weekends, but in terms of performance, we are at the back, so it’s not really – you don’t find any satisfaction when you are not competitive. But we try to stay together, to stay strong, and give time to both factories to fix the situation. 

“They are working flat out. There are a couple of improvements, a couple of ideas. But on Formula 1, it doesn’t happen from night to day, and you need to spend a few months with the current car. 

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“We will not change too many things on this car if we know it will change completely in a few months time. So that is the situation we have.”

While conceding the potentially lengthy time frame for improvements on both the chassis and power unit, Alonso was determined to put a positive spin on the situation.

“There is very, very huge potential in the car and on the engine as well,” he added. “I think we’ve made progress since Bahrain. I think, in terms of deployment, in terms of understanding some of the drivability issues now, we are in a much better position. 

“We still need to fix the vibrations. We still need to fix the power deficit. There are fundamental things that are still on the back foot, but it is not that they are watching TV right now. They are working flat out. 

“We just need time, and we need patience to be here on track, because while the factory is bringing the upgrades, we need to keep working and racing every weekend with a package that is maybe not the best in competitiveness.”

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