Dutch Grand Prix: F1 legend Fernando Alonso suffers more misery as Aston Martin confirm car issue

Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso suffers more misery at Dutch Grand Prix as Aston Martin confirm car issue

Fernando can't catch a break

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson F1 Editor

Motorsport journalist covering F1 since 2024

Friday 21 August 2026 18:45

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Aston Martin have confirmed that Fernando Alonso suffered a major car issue during F1 Sprint qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix on Friday afternoon.

Alonso and Aston Martin have had their fair share of issues to contend with so far this season, but there was optimism heading to Zandvoort, with further aerodynamic upgrades after that huge overhaul in Hungary and a new spec Honda engine.

In FP1, Alonso finished 12th, and it appeared that things were continuing to head in the right direction for the two-time world champion and his team.

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However, Alonso then exited sprint qualifying in SQ1, finishing last of all 22 drivers.

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Aston Martin confirm Fernando Alonso car issue at Dutch GP

Unfortunately for Alonso, though, it appears that there is little that he could have done to improve that position in sprint qualifying.

After his early exit, Aston Martin confirmed that Alonso's car had an issue with its straight line mode, which was not working throughout the session in Zandvoort.

This meant that the Spaniard faced a major pace deficit on the straights, with the low drag active aerodynamics not working as they should have been on his AMR26.

Alonso reacts to SQ1 exit

Speaking after his early exit, Alonso said: “Things seemed to go okay for us in Free Practice, but then we experienced some driveability issues in Sprint Qualifying and it was difficult to stop the car sometimes.

"The rear wing didn’t open for us either, so we lost lap time with that.

"It’s very early days with Honda’s upgrade package, so we’ll try to understand more in the Sprint.”

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