Explained: Why Fernando Alonso committed his long-term future to Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso believes Aston Martin have a ‘better opportunity’ than most in 2026

Aston Martin have the same, or maybe “even better opportunities” than their rivals to hit the front in 2026 when F1 introduces all-new cars, says Fernando Alonso.

After months of debate, Formula 1 announced the new 2026 technical regulations with the sport adopting smaller, lighter and nimbler cars.

Fernando Alonso will still be on the grid in F1 2026

The chassis will be smaller and lighter than the current generation of Formula 1 cars with the maximum wheelbase shortened from 3600mm to 3400mm while the new minimum weight will be 768kg, down 30kg less than today.

On the aerodynamics side, there will be less reliance on generating downforce through ground effect as the cars will feature a partially flat floor and a less effective diffuser. There will also be active aerodynamics with movable front and rear wings.

The new cars will go hand-in-hand with the redesigned power units, and already it’s been said one team could get a march on the competition.

The last time F1 introduced new engines, Mercedes went on a seven-season charge while the latest overhaul of the technical regulations yielded the current Red Bull era.

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Not only does Alonso, who recently signed a new multi-year deal with Aston Martin, believe his team could be in the hunt come 2026, he reckons they have an “even better” chance than most of upsetting the pecking order.

“I believe this team and this project has all the ingredients to be a successful one,” he said in Montreal.

“I think we have the new campus, the new technology in Silverstone. We have the wind tunnel coming in at the end of the year.

“We have great partners, great sponsors, we also have the road car company behind under the same leadership of Lawrence, an iconic brand in the history of automotive and also motorsport with Aston Martin.

“It’s just you need to put all the pieces together.

“We cannot forget that two years ago, this was a team of 300 people and now we are nearly 900 people and under a different name and things like that.

“So it’s little bit unfair when we try to compare ourselves to Ferrari, Mercedes, teams that are very established. They have continuity and they have a lot of things in place for many, many years.

“We are very new to this. And even being very new to this we still last year we saw that we can be as strong as them. And this year, we will get stronger.

“So I think for 2026, especially with the new rules, we have an opportunity and I think this team has the same or even better opportunities than anyone else.”

Last year the doors to Aston Martin’s state-of-the-art new headquarters in Silverstone opened with the team’s in-house wind tunnel expected to be in operation later this year.

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