Fernando Alonso after qualifying setback at Silverstone: “Everything’s fine”

During the Barcelona Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso spoke about his time in Formula 1 as if he were preparing to say goodbye. Later, the two-time F1 world champion put this into perspective, saying: “My inner drive remains as strong as ever. I want to achieve success with Aston Martin. We need to take big steps to make up ground; we have to think differently.”

And now this: Fernando Alonso at Silverstone – where he won in 2006 and 2022, and where Aston Martin’s race car factory is based – on the back of the grid. That hurts. But afterwards, the Asturian says: “Everything’s fine.” Hang on, what?

Fernando explains it like this: “Our performance level is very similar to that of the last few races. On the positive side, energy management and battery usage were consistent. We’d already seen that in Austria. So everything’s fine.”

Hmm, perhaps not, because the driver with 32 Grand Prix wins to his name continues: “Of course, we’re still too slow. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. We’ve got the same car as last time and we’ll see if we can learn a bit more during the Grand Prix. We’re improving in the areas we can control.”

What pleases Alonso: “Our starts are the best thing at the moment. They’ve been very good since day one. We were already well set up in that regard during the test sessions in Bahrain.”

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Aston Martin’s technical director Adrian Newey says: “Fernando is really looking forward to the upgrade, and if it works, we hope he’ll be in the cockpit for another season. Given his experience, his feel for the car and his ability to steer development, he’s an enormous asset. But he wants to see clear, tangible progress. If we can show that we’re moving decisively in the right direction, he’s absolutely ready to be behind the wheel in 2027 as well.”

Alonso himself emphasised at the Red Bull Ring that he’s not giving up: “If anyone thinks I’m giving up here, then they clearly haven’t been watching me for the last 25 years.”