Fernando Alonso is a racing driver competing in the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship for Aston Martin, car number 14, a quarter-century on from his 2001 debut. It has been the hardest of them: nineteenth in the championship after eleven rounds, a single point from tenth at Monte Carlo, four retirements, and an AMR car rarely able to fight for the top ten.
The Last of the 2000s Men
Alonso is F1's living bridge to another century. He debuted in 2001, won back-to-back world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006 — seven wins in each of those seasons — and has since added fortune-hunting stints at McLaren, Ferrari and Alpine before landing at Aston Martin. The totals tell the story: 32 wins, 106 podiums, and 439 starts, more than any other driver in the championship's history.
The late-career Indian summer came in 2023, when eight podiums made Aston Martin a front-runner and Alonso the grid's most celebrated overachiever. Since then the machine has receded and the points have dried up — three consecutive seasons without a podium. In 2026 the highlights have been acts of survival as much as racing, including a Chinese Grand Prix retirement he ended with "I couldn't feel my hands" after crippling vibrations. He turned 45 in July, still arguably the sharpest racer on the grid; the car, not the driver, is the constraint.
2026 Season Log
| Rd | Race | Result | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Melbourne | Retired | 0 |
| 2 | Shanghai | Retired | 0 |
| 3 | Suzuka | P18 | 0 |
| 4 | Miami | P15 | 0 |
| 5 | Montreal | Retired | 0 |
| 6 | Monte Carlo | P10 | 1 |
| 7 | Barcelona | Retired | 0 |
| 8 | Spielberg | P18 | 0 |
| 9 | Silverstone | P18 | 0 |
| 10 | Spa | P19 | 0 |
| 11 | Budapest | P14 | 0 |
Career by the Numbers
| Season | Team | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Aston Martin | 11 | 0 | 0 | P10 |
| 2025 | Aston Martin | 24 | 0 | 0 | P5 |
| 2024 | Aston Martin | 24 | 0 | 0 | P5 |
| 2023 | Aston Martin | 22 | 0 | 8 | P2 |
| 2022 | Alpine | 22 | 0 | 0 | P5 |
| 2021 | Alpine | 22 | 0 | 1 | P3 |
Career stats via the Jolpica/Ergast API, updated after Round 11 (Budapest). Pole totals include sprint-shootout poles, per site methodology. Starts count race entries from 2001.
The 2026 Season So Far
One point from eleven rounds tells its own story. Four retirements — Melbourne, Shanghai, Montreal and Barcelona — have book-ended Sundays spent wrestling an uncooperative car home, with tenth at Monte Carlo the lone score. Team-mate Lance Stroll is yet to open his account, so Aston Martin's season is a fight with Cadillac at the foot of the constructors' table rather than the front of it. For Alonso the remaining goals are personal: points records, and proving the hunger that took him to two titles is intact at 45. Follow the constructors' fight with the full standings, or relive the China weekend in his own words.
The fall has been vertiginous for a team that was a podium regular in 2023: Aston Martin's single point is the lowest of any scoring team on the grid, and only pointless Cadillac sit beneath them. Team-mate Lance Stroll has yet to score at all in 2026, so the veteran's tenth in Monte Carlo is, quite literally, the team's season so far. Alonso's response has been the same professionalism that has carried a quarter-century in the sport — turn up, extract whatever the car offers, and keep the standards that made him a champion.