Formula One arrived in Montréal for the fifth round of the 2026 season and the third Sprint weekend of the year, with the paddock reconvening at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve following what had been an encouraging, if still limited, step forward for Aston Martin Aramco Formula1 Team in Miami. The Canadian circuit represented a very different technical challenge from the opening races of the year. Long straights, aggressive kerbs, heavy braking zones and rapid traction demands placed enormous emphasis on energy deployment, driveability and gearbox behaviour — all areas that have troubled the AMR26 throughout the early part of the season. Heading into the weekend, Honda believed it had made further gains in improving the driveability of the power unit package, particularly the inconsistent upshifts and downshifts that Fernando Alonso had complained about extensively in Miami. Montréal therefore offered the first real opportunity to assess whether those modifications had translated into meaningful on-track improvements. It was also Lance Stroll’s home race, adding additional focus and expectation around Aston Martin’s performance.
Free Practice
With the Sprint format allowing only a single Free Practice session before competitive sessions began, preparation time was again at a premium. Both Aston Martins headed out early on hard tyres when the session got underway, but the first interruption came quickly when Lawson stopped on track with a loss of power steering, initially triggering the Virtual Safety Car before the session was red flagged entirely after only 13 minutes. At that stage Aston Martin’s pace appeared quite respectable, Alonso running P12 and Stroll P14, both noticeably closer to the midfield than had been typical earlier in the season. Once Lawson’s stranded Racing Bull had been removed, the session resumed and both Aston Martins switched onto the soft compound tyres. For the first time in Practice a new rule was adopted and the session was extended for the period of the stoppage in order to recover lost running time, but the interruptions continued. 10 minutes later another red flag appeared when a groundhog ran onto the track directly in front of Albon’s Williams, resulting in him crashing into a wall. At that point, with just over 25 minutes completed, Alonso was P11 and Stroll P15. The prolonged stoppage allowed Aston Martin to make detailed setup adjustments in the garage while most of the field prepared to resume running. When the session restarted both AMR26s remained in their garages while mechanics continued working on the cars. Only after several more minutes did Alonso and Stroll finally return to the circuit. By the halfway point Alonso had climbed up to 9th place, while Stroll was only 16th. Significantly, this marked the first time this season that an Aston Martin had run inside the top ten during any practice session. More encouragingly still, Alonso’s pace relative to the front appeared markedly improved. At one stage he was only 1.6 seconds slower than session leader Antonelli and just over a tenth of a second behind Verstappen. While that still represented a deficit, it was considerably closer than the gaps Aston Martin had been experiencing earlier in the season. As the session entered its final phase, Aston Martin switched both cars onto medium tyres while continuing setup refinement work. Alonso returned briefly to the garage for final adjustments before heading back out, while Stroll also completed further runs on the mediums. With 15 minutes remaining Alonso held 10th place and Stroll 17th, before the session was disrupted once again when Ocon bottomed out heavily over a kerb, spun and crashed into the barriers, scattering debris across the circuit and bringing out the third red flag of the session. The session eventually resumed with barely a minute remaining, leaving no opportunity for meaningful improvements. Alonso therefore finished in P10 and Stroll P17, with both drivers completing a total of 61 laps. Antonelli was fastest at the end of the session - Mercedes showing strong pace around Montréal.
While the final positions themselves remained modest, the broader picture appeared more encouraging for Aston Martin. The AMR26 looked more stable under braking, Alonso appeared notably more comfortable with the car’s behaviour over kerbs and traction zones and the previously severe driveability problems seemed, at least partially, reduced. Stroll, however, continued to struggle extracting single-lap pace from the softer compounds and remained adrift from his team-mate.
Sprint Qualifying
Later in the afternoon Sprint Qualifying provided a far more representative indication of Aston Martin’s true competitiveness. With both Albon and Lawson unable to participate, Aston Martin already knew they would avoid occupying the final positions on the grid. The opening phase of SQ1 initially appeared promising enough. After the first representative runs Alonso held 10th position while Stroll sat 18th, with 5 minutes remaining and both drivers still in realistic contention to progress. However, the session then turned around radically for Alonso. Attempting to improve his lap time, he locked his front tyres and slid into a tyre barrier at turn 3. The impact itself was relatively minor, but the red flag immediately compromised the remainder of the session and ensured Alonso would take no further part. The interruption created intense pressure for Stroll. With less than two minutes remaining once the session restarted, Aston Martin released him into the queue in the pit lane in an attempt to complete a final lap before the chequered flag would signal the end of the round. He managed to start the lap in time but abandoned the effort after failing to improve his time through the opening sector, unable to generate sufficient tyre temperature to bring the mediums into their operating window. Stroll was therefore eliminated - finishing in P18. Most of the other drivers that were behind Stroll and trying to get round to the start before the round ended failed to do so and although Alonso was no longer participating his lap time remained 14th fastest and as such would be classified as having advanced into SQ2 — the first time an Aston Martin had progressed beyond the opening qualifying phase this season. However, as he would not be taking any part in the next round of qualifying and unable to set a time, he ended up being classified as last in SQ2 and would start the Sprint Race from P16. At the front, Lewis Hamilton topped SQ1 before the Mercedes drivers asserted control across the remainder of Sprint Qualifying - Russell ultimately secured Sprint pole position ahead of Antonelli and Norris. After his accident Alonso admitted to being a passenger in the car after locking up, probably as a result of “being too much on the limit”. Alonso’s accident also meant that the mechanics would be working late into the evening repairing and rebuilding his AMR26 in time for the Sprint Race the following day.
Sprint Race
Building up to the start of the 23 lap Sprint race the Aston Martin mechanics were still working frantically on the front suspension arm of Stroll’s car in his grid spot right up against the countdown to the formation lap. Eventually the team ran out of time and wheeled the Canadian’s AMR26 back into the garage to continue repairs there, placing serious doubt over whether he would even start his home Sprint race. This operation attracted the attention of the Stewards, who placed him under investigation for a potential starting procedure infringement. With four other drivers — Bottas, Albon, Gasly and Bearman — opting to start from the pit lane, Alonso inherited fifteenth position on the grid, starting on medium tyres. Stroll meanwhile remained in the garage while the field assembled.
When the lights went out the two Mercedes cars managed a clean and rapid getaway off the start, with Hamilton gaining a place and Alonso also moving up to 14th during the first lap as the field funnelled through the opening chicanes and corners. Back in the Aston Martin garage the mechanics completed the repairs quickly enough for Stroll to join the race from the pit lane on soft tyres, after the rest of the field had disappeared from view. Alonso’s early burst soon faded as the Sprint settled down - Hülkenberg passed him on lap 3 and Lawson moved ahead of him two laps later, dropping Alonso to P16. Further ahead, the Mercedes pair controlled proceedings, with Russell leading from Antonelli and Norris. On lap six, Hadjar encountered power unit trouble and began falling backwards through the field, temporarily promoting Alonso to 15th, but the Aston Martin lacked the pace to defend for long. Bortoleto passed Alonso on lap 7 and Gasly did the same one lap later, leaving Alonso 17th. Meanwhile, Stroll benefited from Hadjar’s trouble and moved up to P21. Stroll also got the news that the Stewards would not be taking any further action regarding the starting procedure investigation. At the front, the battle between the Mercedes drivers intensified around the halfway mark. Antonelli attacked Russell aggressively but came off worse in the exchange, allowing Norris to capitalise and move into second position. While that was going on Alonso was overtaken by Bearman, dropping him to 18th, while Stroll managed to pass Bottas and move up to 20th and on lap 14, Albon had cleared Alonso, relegating the Spaniard to P19 with Stroll directly behind in P20. Then, on lap 16, Alonso came into the pits for a tyre change — an extremely rare move during a short Sprint race where tyre degradation is typically minimal. The team fitted hard tyres and sent him back out, only to call him back into the pits again one lap later. Alonso remained stationary in the garage for an extended period before the team officially retired the car. Stroll meanwhile continued alone, moving up to P17 when Alonso went into the pits and gained another place when Gasly had a late pit stop. Although Stroll was lapped by the leaders as the Sprint entered its closing stages he continued until the chequered flag and P16 was his final finishing position. Russell secured victory, ahead of Antonelli and Norris. Alonso was officially classified as DNF.
Aston Martin later explained that Alonso’s stop had been used as an opportunity to “cure” a new set of hard tyres and gather additional setup data ahead of Race Qualifying, before Alonso’s car was subsequently retired due to damage sustained during opening lap contact. It was evident the team had chosen to sacrifice the remainder of Alonso’s Sprint once meaningful points or positions were no longer realistic.
Race Qualifying
Problems began almost immediately for Aston Martin in Q1, when Alonso was noted for an unsafe release into the pit lane, while Stroll was separately investigated after being released with an unsafe car due to an improperly secured wheel. Both incidents seemed to reflect a team operating under mounting pressure following the Sprint race difficulties. On track, after all the drivers had set their initial fast laps and with 10 minutes remaining, Alonso was P16, right on the cusp of elimination, while Stroll was in the drop zone, in P20. Alonso’s effort not helped by Pérez, who was noted by the Stewards for impeding him. The pair then came into the pits, put on fresh soft tyres and returned to the circuit for their final attempts with 5 minutes left - Alonso in P18, Stroll P21. But neither driver was able to improve sufficiently. Low grip levels and difficult tyre preparation left the AMR26s struggling badly for traction and balance around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. When the chequered flag fell, Alonso was only P19 and Stroll P21 – meaning both were eliminated. Antonelli, Norris and Piastri occupied the top 3 positions. Aston Martin seemed to have regressed to the positions they had occupied for the opening rounds of the season. The remainder of Qualifying produced an exceptionally tight battle at the front, with barely a tenth of a second separating the top five in Q2, which was headed by Hadjar, followed by Hamilton and Norris. In Q3, Russell delivered an outstanding lap in the dying moments to secure pole position ahead of Antonelli and Norris. Aston Martin’s bad day at the office didn’t end there - to add insult to injury the team were handed two separate fines relating to the earlier infringements at the start of Qualifying.
Race
Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix presented an opportunity for Aston Martin to attempt to salvage something positive from an increasingly difficult season. In the build-up to the race, conditions around Montréal had changed markedly from the previous day. Rain had fallen earlier in the day, leaving the circuit damp and significantly cooler, with track temperatures almost 25°C lower than Saturday’s sessions at just 16°C. Grip levels were extremely low throughout the pre-race preparations and Stroll repeatedly complained over the radio that he lacked confidence in the behaviour of the AMR26. The race would also mark the first Grand Prix contested in damp conditions under the new 2026 regulations, creating considerable uncertainty regarding tyre performance and energy deployment.
Further complications materialised even before the lights went out. Aston Martin was forced to replace the battery in Stroll’s car, meaning the Canadian would start his home Grand Prix from the pit lane, leaving Alonso as the team’s sole representative on the grid in nineteenth position. With the circuit drying sufficiently, both drivers opted to start on soft tyres. Even the start procedure itself proved chaotic. Twice the field formed up ready for lights out and twice the process was aborted. The first delay came when Lindblad’s Racing Bull developed a problem on the grid and had to be removed. After an additional formation lap, the start was abandoned again due to the lengthy recovery operation, forcing the field into a third attempt before the race could finally begin properly.
When the lights eventually went out, Norris launched superbly and surged into the lead. Further back Alonso also made an excellent getaway, the Spaniard gaining five positions on the opening lap alone and continued moving forward during lap 2, settling in P12. As those drivers who had gambled incorrectly on tyre selection began diving into the pits, Alonso climbed as high as tenth, while Stroll, despite his pit lane start, worked his way up to fifteenth. Meanwhile, at the front, the race was rapidly evolving into a battle between the Mercedes drivers. By lap 5 Antonelli led from Russell and Hamilton, while Alonso initially appeared capable of holding position inside the lower reaches of the top ten and closed in on Bearman. That progress proved temporary - once the track began drying more and the field settled into rhythm, the underlying limitations of the AMR26 resurfaced. Gasly passed Alonso on lap 7 followed by Norris, who swept past one lap later – by lap 10 Albon and Piastri had achieved the same feat, putting Alonso in P14. Behind them, Stroll lost positions to Sainz and Hülkenberg, demoting him to P18 and he lost another place on lap 12 when Bortoleto passed him. Shortly afterwards, Albon stopped on track following contact from Piastri, who had to pit, an incident that later resulted in Piastri receiving a 10-second penalty. Alonso meanwhile briefly benefited from the disruption, moving back up to P12 on lap 15. Stroll came into the pits a lap later for fresh soft tyres and came out 19th. By lap 20 Alonso had slipped backwards again to P14 - Hülkenberg overtook him on lap 18, although the German carried a 5-second penalty and then Norris also moved past. Alonso was then noted by the Stewards for a yellow flag infringement. On lap 22 Aston Martin brought Alonso into the pits for a fresh set of soft tyres and he rejoined in 16th position but was immediately overtaken by Bortoleto, despite having new tyres. At the front, Antonelli was still battling for the lead with Russell. On lap 26, Alonso returned to the pits again, but this time the car was pushed back into the garage and it looked terminal. The official explanation later confirmed that Alonso had been suffering from a seat-related issue — reportedly the same underlying problem that had contributed to his Sprint retirement the previous day. Stroll was again left as Aston Martin’s only remaining car, but his race became one simply of survival rather than competitiveness. Before half-distance he was lapped by the leading Mercedes drivers, emphasising the scale of Aston Martin’s performance deficit around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The complexion of the race changed dramatically on lap 31 when Russell suddenly slowed and came to a complete halt with a power unit problem, triggering the Virtual Safety Car. The timing allowed much of the field to take advantage of a cheap pit stop, reshuffling the order and elevating Stroll to 17th. Antonelli inherited the lead ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton. Further attrition continued to shape the remainder of the race. Norris retired on lap 40 with an anti-stall and gearbox failure, promoting Stroll again, before Pérez crashed into the barriers 3 laps later, bringing out another Virtual Safety Car and lifting the sole Aston Martin up to 15th. Stroll later used a further VSC period, for clearing up debris on track, on lap 53 to make an additional tyre stop, switching onto medium tyres for the run to the finish. At the front, Antonelli controlled proceedings impressively after inheriting the lead, while Hamilton gradually drew up to Verstappen during the closing laps and completed the overtake with 8 laps to go. Antonelli claimed the victory, ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen, continuing what had become an increasingly remarkable rookie season for the Mercedes driver. Stroll finished in P15.
Reaction and Comments
The race weekend provided little genuine encouragement for Aston Martin. Alonso retired twice due to non-mechanical or technical-related issues, while Stroll, despite reaching the finish at his home Grand Prix, spent much of the afternoon circulating detached from the competitive midfield. Friday had suggested the AMR26 might be edging towards consistent lower-midfield competitiveness but the two races instead demonstrated that while some drivability improvements may have been achieved, the car’s underlying limitations — particularly its inconsistent grip characteristics, poor traction and lack of outright pace — continue to leave Aston Martin vulnerable whenever conditions become more demanding. After the race, Stroll’s reflection was, “It's been a difficult weekend in Montréal. We couldn't get the temperatures we needed into the tyres and we were struggling for grip throughout the races. We didn't have the pace we needed on the straights either. The car performance isn't where we need it to be and there's still a lot of work to do to get us there." Alonso was slightly more hopeful, “We had a good start and we were fighting into the top ten positions. We made the right call starting on the Soft tyres, with a few others opting for Intermediates and then having to pit early. Unfortunately, we had an issue with the seat in the race, so we decided to retire the car. We seemed to be faster here than we were in Miami with the same package. We need to wait for performance to come with our upgrades around the summer break, but we will look to keep optimising this package until then."
Formula One now heads to its Blue Riband venue - the Monaco Grand Prix — a race that will provide a very different challenge altogether, and one that I will be attending in person to report on directly.