Fernando Alonso promises to “attack more than any other weekend” as he feels he has a chance to win the Monaco Grand Prix, but left unclear whether he’ll still be racing for Aston Martin when it partners with Honda in 2026.
Aston Martin has struggled with straight-line efficiency compared to Red Bull, but the low-speed nature of Monaco reduces the impact of that deficit. With Red Bull also enjoying a bigger advantage in races than in qualifying, the importance of grid position in Monaco opens up the potential for a slower car to hold on if out in front, and Alonso admits that’s on his mind.
“We are not thinking we are the strongest in Monaco — I don’t think it’s going to be a huge change compared to Baku, which is still a street circuit,” Alonso said. “I think Ferrari was outstanding in Baku — we could see another great weekend for them here — but then if I tell you that I don’t come here thinking that I can win the race, I would be lying to you.
“This is a one-off opportunity — we know Monaco, Singapore, there are specific racetracks where you need to gain the confidence in free practice, get closer and closer to the walls, and I will attack more than any other weekend, yes.
“There are couple of weekends like this one that I come here thinking that I will try to win. Maybe it’s our worst weekend and we are out of the points — you never know, it is a very specific circuit — but there are these kind of one-off opportunities that you try to maximize.
“We saw a gearbox failure for Max (Verstappen) in Saudi in Q2; we had problems in Checo (Perez)’s car in Australia all through free practice and qualifying, so if one of those things happens on a Sunday, automatically you close the gap massively and it starts to be more interesting. So the championship is long and we will not give up.”
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Honda’s full works manufacturer return with Aston Martin led to questions about the Japanese manufacturer working with Alonso again in 2026 — saying it “will have no objections whatsoever” if he’s still racing at that time — but the Spaniard says it’s too far in the future for him to consider.
“I don’t know what I will do in 2026. I would be lying if I tell you that I know right now. For sure I feel fresh, I feel motivated now, I feel sharp, still fast, and if I keep enjoying I would love to keep racing. But I know that one day I will wake up and I will not feel maybe motivated or happy to keep traveling and all these kind of things. Or maybe I don’t feel fast and I will be the first one to raise my hand and say maybe it’s time.
“Let’s see. I think it’s a long way until 2026. I will focus first of all in Monaco, now, because I think it’s an important weekend, and then this season. The next one, hopefully we can make another step and fight for bigger things.
“And then racing again with Honda, no, it’s going to be no problem at all from my side. I know that it didn’t work out last time in 2015, ’16, ’17. It was even worse maybe for some of my teammates like Stoffel (Vandoorne) or whoever, coming from dominating F3, F2 and then joining the project that maybe was not fully ready back then. But I think they proved that they have a competitive package now. They won the championship in ’21, they won the championship in ’22, most likely will win the championship in ’23, so I think they now have a very strong package. It’s a new set of regulations but I think it will be a very exciting project, for sure.”