F1 legend Fernando Alonso explains retirement decision: 'We decided to stop the pain' -

Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso explains retirement decision: 'We decided to stop the pain'

Fernando Alonso experienced seat issues in Canada

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 29 May 2026 08:40

Two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso has revealed why he had to so suddenly retire from the Canadian Grand Prix last weekend.

Alonso started the main race off in fine fashion, getting himself up into 10th and in with a chance of claiming Aston Martin's first point of the season.

However, like in two of the previous four grands prix this season, Alonso had to pull over to the side of the track and retire his Aston Martin, on lap 24 of the race.

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It means that the team are still sat rock bottom of the constructors' championship, and 44-year-old Alonso remains point-less after the opening five grands prix of the year.

But in some positive news for Aston Martin, the issue with Alonso's AMR26 was not a reliability issue as such, something which has plagued the team ever since they entered into a new power unit partnership with Honda.

Instead, it was an issue with Alonso's seat position, which Aston Martin have altered for this season to ensure a lower centre of gravity and also minimise aerodynamic influence of having the drivers' helmets too high up in the airflow.

Alonso began feeling uncomfortable in this position, and revealed after the race why he had opted to pull out of the grand prix.

"I felt more and more uncomfortable with the laps," Alonso told media after the race. "The position doesn't feel the right one and we were obviously out of the points, quite far from the points and no threat of rain anymore. So we decided to stop the pain."

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Alonso pain eases

While Alonso will not want to be racing around near the back of the pack for long, the Spaniard will be relieved that the worst of Aston Martin's reliability problems seem to have eased.

Lance Stroll has now finished two grands prix in a row, while Alonso himself achieved that feat in Japan and Miami.

Honda have cured the vibrations that were causing the two drivers a lot of discomfort during sessions, and this new seat problem is understood to have nothing to do with those previous vibration issues.

Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack told media of the new issue: "He has been uncomfortable for a while - and never to the point where it was really, like, a show-stopper. It's like a pressure point where you feel that it gets worse and worse.

"I think we need to reconsider, a little bit, the positioning. You try with these cars to be as low as you can - and when you look at how the drivers used to sit over the last years, it goes more and more and more into a lying position.

"Maybe we have gone a step too far, but it's something we will need to check."

F1 Aston Martin Fernando Alonso