Alonso's 2026 F1 season has not started off the way he would have hoped. Aston Martin's AMR26 continued to struggle for performance at the Chinese Grand Prix, which saw both Alonso and team-mate, Lance Stroll, retire from the race.

However, the severity of the situation was obvious to those watching Alonso's onboard throughout the Chinese Grand Prix, with the Spaniard taking his hands off the wheel temporarily down the back straight, in order to relieve the pain that the car was putting him through.

After retiring just 33 laps in, Alonso told DAZN: “I retired because the engine vibrations were actually different today – or rather, excessive – and starting around lap 20 or so, I began to lose all feeling in my hands and feet. Continuing until the end of the race while losing feeling in my hands and feet didn’t make much sense.”

However, despite a terrible start to the season, with Aston Martin not being competitive in either of the opening two rounds, Alonso did manage to make another excellent race start, the two-time champion finding himself 10th on the opening lap, before quickly falling backwards.

Speaking about the energetic start, the Spaniard stated: "Yeah, the starts are fun, Same as in Australia, the car seems to start really well. On lap one it's true that we all have the same level of battery, which is full. Then we enter this battery world championship, and in that we are not as good as the others.”

Aston Martin remain point-less so far in the 2026 championship, and on current pace, appear to be level with, or perhaps even behind, the new team on the grid, Cadillac.

With just one more race remaining this month, can Aston Martin deliver Alonso and Stroll a car strong enough to see the chequered flag?

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