Formula One departed the glamour and glitz of Monaco and trooped down the autoroute to Montmeló for the inaugural Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, rebranded from being the Spanish Grand Prix, as the new Madrid street circuit will take over that role later this year. Few venues are as familiar to Formula One teams as the Circuit de Catalunya, outside Barcelona. Nestled in the Vallès Oriental hills overlooking the Mediterranean coast, it has served as Formula One's benchmark testing circuit for more than three decades and no track has hosted more laps by Formula One machinery. The circuit's mix of high-speed corners, heavy braking zones, long straights and radius turns provides one of the most complete examinations of a Formula One car. For Aston Martin there was additional significance as it has been Fernando Alonso's home race throughout his career and was also the venue of his last F1 win, back in 2013, in a Ferrari. There is even an Alonso grandstand in his honour and thousands of passionate supporters packed into it, hoping to cheer on their local hero. But despite securing Aston Martin's first championship point of the season with a determined drive in Monaco, Alonso ended up retiring from the race, as did Stroll, leaving the fans with nothing at all to cheer about – so much so that Chief Trackside Officer, Mike Krack, apologised for the result and lack of performance. Here’s how the race weekend evolved.
Free Practice
Friday's running began under warm, sunny conditions, although a persistent breeze across the circuit made finding a consistent balance more difficult than the teams would have preferred. Free Practice One got underway with Alonso carrying the hopes of the home crowd while another Spaniard, Carlos Sainz, briefly delayed proceedings, when his Williams stopped on the way out of the pit lane with a steering wheel issue. Once underway, both Aston Martins immediately began their planned programme on medium tyres. After the opening quarter of an hour Alonso occupied 14th position, with Stroll 15th, before both drivers returned to their garages for setup changes. At that point the Aston Martins were 3.8 seconds slower than Russell's leading pace. The team sent both drivers back out for further runs before the halfway point, again on medium tyres, but they slipped further backwards - Alonso to 17th, Stroll to 18th, with the gap to the front runner, Verstappen, now more than 4 seconds. For the final third of the hour Aston Martin bolted on the soft compound tyres in search of improved performance. Alonso briefly produced a series of personal best sector times but neither driver could make a significant impression on the timing screens. With 15 minutes remaining Alonso was 18th and Stroll 20th, before both slipped another place during the closing minutes. When the chequered flag fell the Aston Martins occupied P19 and P20 respectively, ahead of only two rookie drivers, one of whom, Carlton Herta in a Williams, had been unable to complete a representative lap. Russell finished the session fastest.
The afternoon session followed a similar pattern. Alonso and Stroll headed out immediately as the team continued gathering comparative tyre data for the medium compound before an interruption arrived 15 minutes into the session. Lawson coasted to a halt off the racing line with a gearbox problem, requiring the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) to be deployed while his RB was recovered. At that point, Alonso was P19, 4 seconds off the leading pace, while Stroll was P21, 4.6 seconds adrift. Once the session resumed Aston Martin alternated tyre compounds as it worked through its programme. At the halfway stage Stroll was P20 after changing onto soft tyres, while Alonso was in P21 before also switching compounds. Stroll suffered a lock-up and ran wide during one of his next runs, while Alonso's change onto softs also failed to lift him away from the foot of the order. With 15 minutes remaining the green machines occupied the final two positions, Alonso P21 and Stroll P22. The pair completed one final qualifying simulation during the closing minutes but the positions remained unchanged. As the chequered flag brought Friday practice to a close, Norris headed the timesheets while Aston Martin found itself anchored to the bottom of the order, Alonso P21 and Stroll P22. Alonso also received a warning from Race Control for crossing the white line when rejoining the circuit after coming out of the pits. Across the two Friday sessions the team accumulated 85 laps of valuable data as engineers continued their efforts to better understand the behaviour of the AMR26.
Saturday morning's practice session offered Aston Martin the final opportunity to improve the driveability of the AMR26 before Qualifying. But unlike previous sessions there was little urgency among the teams to head out and it was only after 19 minutes that both Aston Martins finally emerged on track, with soft tyres bolted on as they settled into their preparations. At the halfway stage Alonso was P18 and Stroll P20, both approximately 3.8 seconds off the leading pace. The session was interrupted shortly afterwards when Bottas locked up heavily, reporting the loss of his brake pedal and beached his Cadillac in a gravel trap. Red flags were immediately displayed as the marshals recovered the stranded car. Running resumed with 18 minutes remaining. Alonso set the 19th fastest time and Stroll the 21st, before the closing qualifying simulations got underway. During the final minutes Stroll inadvertently impeded Antonelli while the Mercedes driver was on a flying lap, an incident that attracted the attention of the Stewards, but no further action was taken. Both Aston Martins completed one final run before the chequered flag but were unable to improve. Alonso finished P20 and Stroll P22, leaving Aston Martin once again facing an uphill battle heading into Qualifying, having collected a combined total of 120 laps of data during the three Free Practice sessions. At the front Russell ended FP3 fastest ahead of Piastri and Leclerc.
Qualifying
Warm, dry conditions continued into Saturday afternoon as the track temperature climbed to a scorching 51°C at the start of Qualifying. Thousands of passionate Spanish fanáticos decked out in Aston Martin green greeted Alonso and Stroll as they took to the track after the lights turned green and put in their warm-up lap. However, after every driver had completed their first representative run, the familiar picture emerged. With 8 minutes of Q1remaining Alonso was lodged in 21st position and Stroll was rooted to the bottom-Stroll's first effort having been compromised after he ran wide and bounced through the gravel, leaving himself with a considerable amount to recover on his final run. Both Aston Martins returned to the pits for fresh soft tyres before heading back out for their final attempts to rescue their afternoons. Alonso's lap unravelled almost immediately after a poor opening sector left him with too much time to recover over the remainder of the lap and he ended the round in P22, behind Stroll, for the first time in 42 races. With the leading teams electing not to complete another run, Hamilton remained fastest in Q1 when the chequered flag fell. The extent of Aston Martin's struggles was highlighted by the fact that they were a full second slower than Bottas' Cadillac in P20, underlining just how uncompetitive the AMR26 was around one of Formula One's benchmark circuits.
At the front of the grid Russell emerged fastest in Q2 ahead of Leclerc and Antonelli as the fight for pole began. However, the decisive final round was brought to a halt when Leclerc crashed heavily into a barrier, bringing out the red flags after sustaining a 25G impact. Following a lengthy delay to recover the Ferrari and repair to the barriers, the remaining drivers returned to the circuit for a final shootout with just 8 minutes remaining. Russell produced a superb final lap to snatch top spot in the closing moments and Hamilton secured P2, with Antonelli taking 3rd.
After Qualifying, Alonso admitted there had been few surprises as he spoke to his distressed fans, "There are no surprises that we qualified at the back as we know this is our level of car performance right now. We had downshifting issues and it was very difficult to drive the car in each Qualifying lap. It's always special to drive in front of the Spanish fans though, and thanks to them for their amazing support over the weekend." It was not the way he was hoping to start, in all probability, his last race at this circuit, especially as it would not be appearing on the 2027 race calendar, the championship race being moved to Madrid.
Race
Sunday afternoon dawned warm and dry again and the stage was set for the 66 lap Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix to get underway. As the formation lap began, Aston Martin's race strategy was to diverge - Stroll lined up in P21, while Alonso would start from the pit lane, after Aston Martin replaced the ESME and MGU-K power unit components in his AMR26 and as he had qualified last had little to lose from the change. Aston Martin were the only team to opt to start on the hard compound tyres, suggesting that they would go for a longer opening stint and try to move up the order whilst those around them pitted for fresh tyres.
The field made a clean getaway when the lights went out. Russell held off Hamilton to keep the lead while Leclerc made a particularly strong start moving up 3 places from P10. At the rear of the field Aston Martin found itself detached from the rest of the pack - by the end of the second lap Stroll and Alonso were already 13 and 14 seconds respectively adrift of Russell. Alonso nevertheless began to close on his team-mate and by lap 3 was within a second of Stroll. Aston Martin's race effectively unravelled only a few laps later. Stroll was called into the pits at the end of lap 6 because of a gearbox issue and not being able to get 3rd or 4th during the last couple of laps. Alonso inherited the position, but Stroll’s lengthy stop developed into a retirement. By lap 8 the team officially confirmed that Stroll's race was over, ending another disappointing weekend for the Canadian.
Alonso, the solitary Aston Martin driver, turned his attention towards Bottas ahead. Running a longer first stint on the hard tyres, he gradually closed the gap before making a decisive move on lap 12 to overtake the Cadillac. Around him the race leaders were beginning their first round of pit stops. Hamilton pitted from second place, followed shortly afterwards by Russell and Verstappen, allowing Antonelli briefly to inherit the lead as the pit-stop cycle continued. As Perez, Colapinto, Albon, Ocon, Antonelli, Sainz and eventually Leclerc all made their stops, Alonso climbed steadily up the order to P16 without having to head into the pits himself. But his position was only temporary. As expected, drivers emerging on fresh tyres quickly began reclaiming places. Ocon overtook Alonso on lap eighteen, as did Sainz shortly afterwards and then Bortoleto on lap 19. Although Bearman briefly surrendered position during his pit stop, Alonso slipped back to 18th on lap 20 before Perez and Bearman both passed him on the following lap. With Bottas and Stroll already retired, Alonso found himself running last of the remaining competitors. On lap 23, race leader Russell lapped the Aston Martin and the team decided to bring Alonso in for a fresh set of hard tyres before rejoining to complete the final two-thirds of the race, although 25 seconds behind Perez. As the race settled into its middle phase and the two Mercedes’ and Hamilton’s Ferrari were battling at the front, further retirements and pit stops promoted Alonso incrementally. Hulkenberg's Audi retired on lap 31, Perez made another pit stop at the half distance stage and then Albon retired his Williams, all of which elevated Alonso to 17th. Perez however, on fresher tyres, rapidly closed the gap and reclaimed a position on lap 40. Moments later Aston Martin's afternoon came to an end. On lap 41 Alonso slowed approaching turn 9, where the grandstand that bears his name is, and pulled off the circuit with a suspected battery problem (again). Race Control immediately deployed the VSC while marshals recovered the stricken AMR26. Hamilton, who had been applying relentless pressure on the Mercedes drivers throughout the race by taking a different strategy, benefitted most from the interruption, making his final pit stop from the lead at significantly reduced time loss before rejoining comfortably still ahead.
Once racing resumed Hamilton on the freshest tyres controlled proceedings with authority. The seven-time World Champion steadily extended his advantage over Russell with Antonelli firmly in contention until the closing laps. With just 5 laps remaining, Antonelli, the championship leader, passed Russell and then on the next lap his Mercedes ground to a halt on track with a power unit failure. Immediately yellow flags were waved, the VSC was engaged and the cars slowed down, but it didn’t alter Leclerc losing the power steering on his Ferrari and having to nurse it all the way back to the pits. His 2nd retirement in 2 races! After the restart, Hamilton crossed the finish line ~20 seconds clear of Russell to secure his first Grand Prix victory for Ferrari and recording the Scuderia's first win of the season. Norris completed the first all-British Formula One podium since 1968, while for Aston Martin it was another race to forget. Stroll's early retirement and Alonso's mechanical failure completed a double DNF only one week after the optimism generated by the team's first championship point in Monaco.
Reaction and Comments
Monaco had offered hope that Aston Martin's fortunes were beginning to improve. Barcelona, however, provided a sobering reminder that the AMR26's underlying performance and reliability shortcomings remain far from resolved. Despite Honda's continued work on improving power unit driveability, the team spent the entire weekend anchored to the foot of the timing sheets before suffering another double retirement on Sunday. After the race Alonso reported, "We had an issue with the battery and had to retire the car. We are struggling with our performance, and we know this is our situation until around the summer break. The support from the fans has been incredible this weekend and I want to thank them for everything. Unfortunately, we couldn’t give them what they wanted." Stroll was similarly sanguine, "I had to retire the car because of a gearbox issue; I couldn't get third or fourth gear for the last couple of laps. We'll investigate it further. We have a lot of things to work on, and we're focusing on our upgrade package which is due around the summer break. Until then, we know things will continue to be difficult." So disappointed were the Aston Martin team that Mike Krack issued an apology to fans who had come to "see their heroes". “It was a disappointing weekend. It was difficult; we expected a difficult weekend, but then having poor performance and having two DNFs does not make it easy," Krack told media, "I am really sorry for all the fans that have bought tickets to see their heroes, and we could not give them the hardware to perform”, he went on. After the race Alonso expressed his frustration and disappointment more brutally when he labelled his Aston Martin as being the “worst car” with the “worst engine” on the grid. Away from the timing screens, speculation surrounding Alonso's long-term future also began circulating through the paddock, with rumours once again linking the two-time World Champion with retirement. It looks like we are going to have to endure another month of this performance, with Aston Martin targeting the race in Budapest as the one to which they intend to bring a car that will recapture 2-3 seconds of improved performance.