Aston Martin’s season continues to go from bad to worse, and Baku was ultimately another representation of that shift; the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP marked another disappointing weekend for Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso — both drivers with a DNF.
For Stroll, this marks his fourth retirement in a row, leaving him as the only driver on the grid yet to finish an entire race distance. This marks a pivotal point for Aston Martin’s ongoing struggles this season with the Honda power unit and the overall reliability of the AMR26.
To add to their weekend, the drivers were issued multiple grid penalties for taking on new engine components.
Stroll implies AMR26 performance will stay the same for rest of the year
After qualifying 21st, Stroll marked the first retirement at the 2026 Azerbaijan GP; he had little to add to the conversation that had become the new norm for him every weekend.
The Canadian managed to go as far as Lap 9 before retiring the AMR26 due to a water pressure issue — one that’s been persistent throughout multiple weekends.
He managed to convey a simple “yeah” after confirming the issue post-race in the print media pen, and responded with yet another one-word answer —“no” — on whether he was aware of any ongoing issues at the time.
Even after attempting to tackle the multiple issues they’ve faced this season, Stroll shared that there will be “many more of these conversations” given the state at which the team finds itself.
He also offered a very transparent insight into their situation for the remainder of the season, citing that “things aren’t changing right now” despite their continued efforts, but they’re focused on planning better things for next year.
“Yeah, we’re going to be having many more of these conversations, you know. We’re not bringing many upgrades this year. Things aren’t changing right now, so we’re planning more for next year.
“So this year, we know it’s going to be like this.”
No positives after new power unit at 2026 Azerbaijan GP
The #18 car had extensive component changes in Baku: a new turbocharger, the sixth this season, along with its seventh energy store unit, sixth control electronics unit, and finally an eighth power unit ancillary component.
However, the effort felt futile for the 28-year-old, as he shared that there isn’t an ounce of positives to take away from his time with these new changes.
“No, there’s not much positives right now. There’s really no positives.”
Alonso on losing bundles of time in a straight-line at the 2026 Azerbaijan GP
Starting from P19, Valtteri Bottas overtook the Spaniard on Lap 2, and from there Alonso was once again in a race of his own with his companions in the Cadillacs.
However, by Lap 14, the driver questioned his race engineer, Chris Cronin, about the engine performance after spotting an anomaly in the straight-line performance.
“We had a lack of speed on the straight. It was anomalous, and we have to study it and see why.”
Following a constant back-and-forth with Bottas, the Spaniard chose to retire on Lap 20, mentioning a suspected engine issue.
“Yeah, I passed the Cadillacs, then Sergio overtook me, and then he pulled away, and then I was fighting with Valtteri for a few laps. I think we passed and re-passed like five or six times, and at the end, we had to stop. We suspect an engine problem.”
When asked about a potential water pressure issue, the driver said there was a possibility, although he wasn’t alerted about any of it: “It could be. I didn’t see any alarm.”
But his main issue arose after losing 1.5 seconds on straights. He was over a second clear of the Finn out of turn 16 on one lap and yet he got overtaken.
“Everything was working fine, but I started losing a lot on the straight, like 1.5 seconds. So it was, as I said, something anomalous.”
AMR26 can survive on a track with less straights
After another weekend of battling the Cadillacs, Alonso doesn’t necessarily see Aston Martin above the American team but thinks that they’re somewhat alright after referring to lapping both drivers in Budapest and Zandvoort.
“In Zandvoort and in Budapest, we lapped them. So I think that’s more or less where we are.”
When questioned whether having moments like these on track help them determine which team is stronger, Alonso embraced an “it is what it is” attitude, expressing that right now things seem out of their hands, but the team is focused on alleviating them however they can.
“We know there are things out of our hands. We are working to solve the problems.”
Looking ahead to Formula 1’s return to Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia for the 2026 Bahrain GP, Alonso jokingly admitted that the team would be able to survive on a track that is less straight-heavy.
“Less straight is better for us, for sure, but let’s see. Still, you have the need of some power. Even Singapore ranks fifth or something like that on the calendar. Budapest is less power-sensitive than Singapore. And some other places. Let’s see.”
However, he critiqued that the team needs to do better than what happened in Monza and Baku, and hopefully Malaysia could be a turning point for them where the car doesn’t struggle as much with straight-line speed with less full throttle zones.
“I think for sure better situation than Monza and Baku. But we need to do better as a team in Malaysia and Singapore.”
Alonso urges Honda to improve reliability
The Spanish driver believes that he and Stroll are thoroughly doing their part for the team, which requires helping them understand where it is they’re lacking, but the effort needs to come from both ends, as he urged Honda to improve on their end as well.
“I think we are doing our part of the job, which is helping the team to try to understand how to get faster on the corners. When we press the throttle pedal and we go on the straight, we need to rely on Honda and getting better and better.
“We made a step forward this year with the engine upgrade. But obviously, as we see, there is not enough and we need to keep on working.“
