Formula One arrived at the French Riviera for the sixth round of the 2026 World Championship at the sport's Crown Jewel of the Formula 1 calendar – the Monaco Grand Prix. First held in 1929, the Monaco Grand Prix remains Formula One's ultimate test of precision, concentration and driver commitment. At just 3.337km, the Circuit de Monaco is the shortest track on the calendar, yet its narrow streets, unforgiving barriers, elevation changes and iconic corners leave virtually no margin for error. Overtaking opportunities are extremely limited, placing enormous importance on qualifying performance and race strategy. After two race weekends that included Sprint races, this race returned to the traditional format, with three practice sessions, giving teams an opportunity to optimise their cars for the unique challenges of the Principality. Aston Martin arrived with a striking one-off livery, created in partnership with Maaden, a Principal Partner, featuring an iridescent finish that changed colour as the AMR26 moved through the streets of Monaco. Prior to arriving in Monaco, Honda reported they had introduced targeted improvements in power unit driveability to help the Aston Martin drivers navigate Monte Carlo’s tight, slow-speed corners – we would see.
Free Practice
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll headed out early on hard tyres when the opening Free Practice session got underway beneath clear skies, but after only a handful of laps the pair returned to the pits for the team to rework the initial setups. The pair headed out after almost 20 minutes and Alonso managed to haul himself up to P15 while Stroll remained towards the back of the field, in P21. At the halfway point the Virtual Safety Car was engaged for Piastri, who slowed unexpectedly. No sooner had the session got going and red flags were deployed when Hadjar lost the rear through the first part of the swimming pool exit, locked all four tyres and went nose-first into a wall, before his Red Bull spun and slammed its rear into another wall for added damage. The clock continued to count down while the car was removed, meaning the stoppage consumed valuable track time and further disrupted team preparations. The session resumed with less than 15 minutes remaining, with Stroll in P18 and Alonso in P21. The pair went out again for their final runs but Alonso lost the rear of his car under braking on the run to the chicane leaving a piece of front wing on the middle of the track. This required a red flag again, for the marshals to retrieve the debris, before the session was brought to a close. Leclerc finished fastest ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen, while Aston Martin ended with Alonso in P20 and Stroll P22.
The second practice session later in the afternoon began under different weather conditions - temperatures had dropped and a strengthening wind added another variable for the drivers to contend with. Both Aston Martins headed out immediately to regain practice time lost during FP1, but the session was only 14 minutes in when the Virtual Safety Car was required, after Norris overshot the chicane and came to a halt in the escape road. At that stage, Alonso was 18th and Stroll 19th, both ~3 seconds adrift of the leading pace. Once running resumed, the positions didn’t improve for the Aston Martin pair - at the halfway point Alonso had dropped to P21 and Stroll P22. As the session entered its final quarter of an hour Alonso had managed to move up a place, but was still more than two seconds slower than Hamilton, in the leading car, despite the lap being so short. Stroll was still last. There was one final interruption to the session - with only five minutes remaining Pérez's Cadillac suffered a brake fire which brought out the red flags once more. The car was quickly recovered and a brief two-minute sprint to the chequered flag followed, but there was little opportunity for meaningful improvement. Hamilton ultimately ended the session fastest ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen, while Aston Martin remained rooted near the foot of the order with Alonso P20 and Stroll P22.
Saturday morning's final practice session represented Aston Martin's last opportunity to find performance before the most important qualifying session of the season. Adrian Newey was present in Monaco, his first appearance at a race weekend since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, observing proceedings from the garage as Aston Martin attempted to improve the behaviour of the AMR26 around the exceptional demands of the Principality. Ferrari sent their drivers onto the circuit first at the start of FP3 and Alonso quickly followed, with Stroll joining shortly afterwards. Early signs were marginally more encouraging than the previous day - Alonso was running only 1.7 seconds off Leclerc's benchmark pace and after the first 15 minutes he was P15, with Stroll in P17. An all-British trio headed the timing sheets at that stage - Russell, Hamilton and Norris. By the halfway stage however, Alonso had dropped to 21st and Stroll to 22nd as rival teams switched onto softer tyres and began more representative qualifying simulations. The AMR26 appeared to lack the grip and confidence required to attack Monaco's barriers in the manner needed to extract competitive lap times. Heading into the final quarter hour the session was halted by red flags, when Bearman crashed heavily after the Haas driver carried too much speed into a cambered section of the circuit, lost grip and slammed into the Armco. At this point it was Stroll in P20 and Alonso in P22. Once Bearman’s car had been cleared away the rest of the cars were fired up in their garages and the session resumed. Both Aston Martins headed onto the circuit for one final push to improve their positions but all they were able to do was reverse their order slightly. When the chequered flag fell, Alonso was back in P21and Stroll in P22, completing a practice programme which had consistently seen the green cars anchored at the foot of the timing sheets. At the front, Antonelli was fastest, ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton.
Qualifying
Qualifying began with Aston Martin seemingly facing an uphill battle to make any impression. Both drivers headed out together when Q1 got underway and began building tyre temperature on an evolving circuit. However, with 10 minutes remaining Alonso was only 19th, while Stroll was rooted to the bottom of the timing sheets in 22nd. The pair remained firmly locked in the elimination zone as the round entered its decisive phase but then red flags were waved with just over two minutes remaining, for Bortoleto, who had crashed into the barriers, bringing proceedings to a temporary halt and leaving teams facing a tense wait in the pit lane while marshals recovered the damaged car. When qualifying resumed, the leading drivers didn’t bother to go out and neither did Stroll, thus eliminating himself, while Alonso's final effort proved insufficient to escape elimination. They were classified P21 – Alonso, P22 – Stroll. At the front it was Leclerc, Verstappen & Antonelli in the top three positions – a battle that would continue for the rest of Qualifying. Verstappen topped Q2 ahead of Antonelli and Hadjar, before Antonelli delivered another stunning lap in the final round to finish ahead of Verstappen and grabbed pole, even though the Mercedes driver didn’t set the fastest time in any individual sector yet pieced together the quickest overall lap. Behind them, the second row would be occupied by the two Ferrari’s of Hamilton and Leclerc. With overtaking opportunities almost non-existent, Aston Martin's hopes of a strong result now depended upon strategy, attrition or unusual race circumstances.
Race
Aston Martin lined up on the final row of the grid for the 78-lap Monaco Grand Prix on medium tyres, with no drivers serving penalties and only Bortoleto having to start from the pit-lane. Normally, starting last would mean the prospects of making significant progress would be bleak. Then, as soon as the 5 red lights went out and the cars launched forward, one car didn’t – the Red Bull of Verstappen! It stalled in its grid spot and he could only sit and watch as his 21 rivals all sped past, taking avoiding action and effectively eliminating him from contention before the race had properly begun. It was totally unprecedented and provided Aston Martin with an immediate place elevation. Notwithstanding that, both Alonso and Stroll made promising starts and by the end of the opening lap Alonso was up to 17th and Stroll 18th. At the front, Antonelli, unchallenged by Verstappen, established early control of the race and by lap three had opened a gap of 2.9 seconds over Hamilton and Leclerc. Aston Martin decided to throw down the gauntlet and create opportunities through strategy, so Alonso was brought into the pits at the end of lap three for an early switch on to soft tyres and he came out some 15 seconds behind Stroll, in P18. Stroll followed the same tactic one lap later, which allowed Alonso to regain the place and they circulated in formation until lap 11 when Perez had to come into the pits to serve a drive through penalty. This promoted Alonso to 16th and Stroll to 17th, while Antonelli, Hamilton and Leclerc controlled the race from the front. Such was their superior pace that by lap 17 the leaders had lapped the backmarkers and the Aston Martins. The race order remained fairly static until lap 31 when some attritions started to reduce the field. Bottas had to retire following another fire ignited in the Cadillac’s brakes and Bearman parked his Haas a lap later. However, both these cars were behind the Aston Martins so Alonso remained 16th, Stroll 17th until just after the half distance point. Colapinto, who was ~5 seconds ahead of Alonso, came under investigation for an infringement and Norris, further ahead, appeared to have a problem, so much so that he had to retire his McLaren on Lap 46. The culprit was the battery again – the same as in Canada. This put the Aston Martins up to 15th and 16th respectively. Colapinto, was then handed a penalty by the Stewards, creating a realistic possibility that the Aston Martins could gain further positions without needing to make an on-track pass. Stroll meanwhile, was shown the black and white flag for exceeding track limits, requiring him to be more cautious. However, he wasn’t careful enough and the complexion of the race changed significantly on lap 61 when he crashed at the final corner after running over a section of tarmac that had begun breaking apart and yellow flags were waved and the Safety Car was deployed. Initial appearances suggested driver error but it became clear that the deteriorating circuit surface had contributed to loss of grip at the corner. Alonso dashed into the pits for fresh soft tyres and other drivers did the same or used the interruption to serve penalties, especially as the Safety Car was taking the cars through the pit lane, so that the marshals could clear Stroll's AMR26 out of the way safely. Once it was, the cars were let loose and they set about sprinting towards the finish. However, moments after the restart Leclerc crashed his Ferrari at exactly the same location as Stroll, confirming that the breaking surface was the culprit for causing both incidents. Again the Safety Car was employed before race control suspended proceedings with a red flag to investigate and repair the damaged section of track. Suspension (rather than stopping) meant the cars didn't go into their garages but stopped in the pit lane in race order. With Leclerc out this moved Alonso up a place to 14th. The race resumed with the cars having to follow the Safety Car for a couple of laps before restarting the race properly from a standing start. Shortly after the restart Sainz had to retire his Williams and Russell had to serve a second penalty, promoting Alonso to 12th. Hamilton, Hadjar and Gasly were also under investigation for speeding in the pit lane – would Alonso steal a point? He fought hard all the way to the chequered flag and made the pass on Bortoleto to the take P11 as he crossed the finish line. Antonelli secured another commanding victory ahead of Hamilton and Gasly, who was told that he would be penalised and was demoted to 4th, so Hadjar, who crossed the line 4th, would take the final podium step. Alonso, would benefit from a similar post-race decision. Although he crossed the line just outside the points, Perez was handed a ten-second penalty for being incorrectly positioned at the restart after the red flag. The penalty dropped him behind Alonso in the final classification and elevated the Aston Martin driver to 10th place.
Reaction and Comments
The result secured Alonso's first championship point of the season and Aston Martin's first point of 2026. It had required a remarkable combination of attrition, penalties, strategy and unusual circumstances, but after months of frustration the team finally had something tangible to show for its efforts. Stroll, unfortunately, was classified as retired from the race after making contact with a barrier, although subsequent investigation strongly suggested an issue in the deceleration phase of the corner, while the track surface breaking up on pit entry may have also played a part. After the race, Stroll’s view was, "We've been dealing with drivability issues all season and it was the same again this weekend. The acceleration and deceleration isn't consistent and changes from one corner to the next. At most circuits you've got some run-off to work with, so you can manage it, but around here the walls are really close and any issue can put you into the barrier. That was also a big reason why I was getting picked up for track limits. We'll take a closer look after the race, and the team will keep pushing for improvements ahead of Barcelona next week." Alonso summed it up more positively, “I took a lot of risk on lap one and at the restart and tried to consolidate whatever position we were in. It was difficult out there today, but we went aggressive with the strategy, stopping on lap three and we were thinking to go until the end of the race with just one stop. The red flag restart helped, and we made sure to take the opportunities that were available to us. So I think we managed the race quite well and it was a nice reward for everybody in the team to score our first point of the year."
The team’s focus now turns to Barcelona next weekend.