Fernando Alonso Explains His Italian GP DNF as Aston Martin F1 Suffers Another Disaster

Fernando Alonso's 2026 Italian Grand Prix ended with damage from the second Lesmo, not a mechanical failure from his power unit as viewers expected. The Aston Martin driver said a Turn 7 kerb strike changed the car's behavior, leaving him too slow to justify continuing at Monza on the Sunday.

"I think I went off in Turn 7 exit, second over the curb, and since that moment, yeah, the car was not feeling the same anymore, so probably I got some damage underneath and it was not worth keeping on going, you know, we were slow and with damage on the car, no point," Alonso said following the race.

Alonso reported that the issue arose as he exited the second Lesmo corner. He confirmed that the car sustained damage after hitting the curb, which ultimately led to his retirement. He drove Aston Martin's No. 14 car into the garage rather than continue with a car that no longer felt right.

The DNF came after an already complicated weekend . Alonso began the race from the pit lane due to changes made to the power unit by Aston Martin during parc ferme.

That earlier problem was battery-related, according to Alonso.

"Yeah, it was the battery at the end, battery problem . So we changed all the electrical components of the car and today it was fine."

Prior to the race, Aston Martin made some minor suspension adjustments, too.

"Yeah, I think we changed something in the suspension, but minor minor tweaks, nothing really dramatic or experimental, you know, it was a normal setup," he confirmed.

He added that three or six components had been replaced while discussing the battery problem:

"I think we three or six components we changed now, so I think we understand that there is some kind of issue there that we need to fix, not totally solved, but yeah, nothing unexpected."

Alonso Found One Bright Spot Before Looking to Singapore

A red-flag gave Alonso a chance to recover some entertainment from an otherwise miserable afternoon. He said he passed Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas, then spent time fighting the Cadillac cars. Sergio Perez was the other Cadillac driver involved in that battle, while Stroll ultimately retired with a hydraulic problem of his own.

"Yeah, it was good. I think we had some fun with the with the Cadillacs, you know, that was kind of unexpected."

"At least we could fight a little bit the Cadillacs and that was maybe unexpected because we thought that we were on our own."

The next race will take place in a week at Spain's new Madring circuit in Madrid.

"Yeah, looking forward, I think from the remaining races, we know that there are weekends that we will be struggling, weekends that will be better. You know, maybe next one is one of the opportunities, so looking forward."

Asked whether he had an announcement planned for the following week, Alonso answered plainly: