Fernando Alonso criticised by rival over F1 complaints

Juan Pablo Montoya has hit back at Fernando Alonso's complaints over F1's new rules for 2026, insisting he is doing so because he is losing.

Alonso and Montoya both made their F1 debuts at the season opening Australian Grand Prix in 2001, and battled each other on track for five years before the Colombian quit the sport after walking out of McLaren halfway through the 2006 season.

Barring a two-year break in 2019 and 2020, Alonso has been on the grid ever since, which has seen F1 go through various revamps to the rules and regulations.

The latest though surrounding 50/50 battery and combustion engine have been criticised by the two-time world champion as well as other F1 stars including Max Verstappen.

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Alonso blasts F1 2026 cars

After this year's Monaco Grand Prix, where he picked up Aston Martin's first point of the season, Alonso said of the new engines: “This is probably the worst generation of cars I ever drove in Monaco.

“The way you charge the battery, with the braking and lifting off and things like that, obviously creates a lot of inconsistency into the engine braking of the car. Sometimes you have less, sometimes you have push and sometimes not.

“If the battery is completely full, then you don’t recharge because the battery is full. So you don’t have engine braking."

Montoya though has hit back at Alonso's complaints in general, saying drivers in only favour the rules when they have the best machinery, something Alonso in the struggling Aston Martin team doesn't have this season.

Montoya: Alonso would change in a winning car

Montoya told Marca: "Drivers' preferences depend on who has the best car, and that applies to V8s, V10s, V12s, hybrids, turbos, and naturally aspirated engines.

"If Fernando were winning every race, he wouldn't hate the regulations. Of course, he'd prefer other cars, but that's not something that's going to change."

The seven-time grand prix winner with Williams and McLaren also insisted Aston Martin were heading in the right direction given their horrendous start to the season where they dropped to being the slowest team in the field.

He added: "If you look at Aston Martin's start to the year and compare it to now, they've taken a huge step forward. Something many teams dream of. "For example, if Williams had followed a similar trajectory, they'd still be scoring points with a different engine. Furthermore, this is the first chassis Adrian Newey truly designed , because he redesigned the original concept.

"But the million-dollar question is whether Honda will take a significant step to put Fernando [Alonso] in a more competitive position."

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