Former Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso has regained a competitive edge with a car that now enables him to challenge the frontrunners in Formula 1 once again. Aston Martin’s recent technical upgrade has significantly boosted the performance of a team that had been struggling earlier in the season.
Despite their improvements, the Silverstone-based team remains eighth in the constructors’ championship, having accumulated just 22 points from the first 10 races. The Spaniard, however, has started to show signs of progress, scoring his first points of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix and adding more at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. Notably, Alonso qualified inside the top six for the third time in the last four races, a clear indicator of Aston Martin’s upward momentum. Although he qualified behind some rivals such as Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, Norris’s late crash elevated Fernando Alonso back to seventh on the grid.
At the race start, the two-time F1 world champion lined up on the third row alongside his longtime rival Lewis Hamilton and finished the race just one position behind him. Before the race, Alonso had openly defended Hamilton by remarking that this year’s Ferrari is ‘difficult to drive,’ similar to the 2024 Mercedes, highlighting the challenges faced by the drivers (via Motorsport).
During the Canadian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso voiced criticism of Lewis Hamilton’s racecraft in an unbroadcasted radio exchange. The incident occurred after Lando Norris crashed while attempting to overtake Oscar Piastri, which triggered a late safety car deployment that effectively froze the race standings due to insufficient time for a restart. This sequence sparked controversy, especially among Red Bull, who were displeased with George Russell’s conduct at the front. Red Bull lodged a protest claiming Russell had deliberately tried to get Max Verstappen penalized, and they also raised concerns about George Russell falling too far behind the safety car.
Amidst these tensions, Fernando Alonso privately expressed to his race engineer, Andrew Vizard, that Lewis Hamilton had failed to maintain the necessary proximity to the cars ahead during the safety car period. Fernando Alonso’s comments, as reported by DAZN, indicated frustration: he told Vizard that the Briton had “missed the lesson” about staying close to the pack. Vizard responded by confirming they had reviewed the situation but did not escalate the matter to the FIA, implying Aston Martin found no grounds for a formal complaint. Fernando Alonso, the most seasoned driver on the grid, was clearly using every available tactic to maximize his race outcome.
Lewis Hamilton managed to recover to sixth place in Montreal, though his position benefited in part from Norris’s late retirement. Throughout the race, Hamilton battled several issues, most prominently suffering around 20 points of downforce loss after hitting a groundhog, which damaged the floor of his car and likely contributed to instability at the rear. Brake problems also plagued the seven-time world champion once again, with reports of an unusually long brake pedal travel during the race, an issue recurring for Hamilton this season.
It is understood that Hamilton remains hopeful that Ferrari’s upcoming rear suspension upgrade at the British Grand Prix will resolve some of these technical setbacks. This upgrade represents his last major opportunity to turn around what has been a frustrating and disappointing debut season with the Scuderia.
