Fernando Alonso has vowed to “attack more than any other weekend” as he feels he has a chance to win the Monaco Grand Prix, but it is unclear if he will still be racing for Aston Martin when he works with Honda in 2026.
Aston Martin struggled with straight-line performance compared to Red Bull, but Monaco’s slow speed lessens the impact of this deficit. With Red Bull also having a greater advantage in racing than in qualifying, the importance of starting position in Monaco opens up the potential for a slower car to stay ahead, and Alonso admits he is thinking about it.
“We don’t think we are the strongest at Monaco – I don’t think it will be a huge change compared to Baku, which is still a street circuit,” said Alonso. “I think Ferrari did great in Baku – we could see another great weekend here for them – but if I said I didn’t come here thinking I could win a race, I’d be lying.
“It’s a one-time opportunity – we know Monaco, Singapore, there are specific racetracks where you have to gain confidence in free practice, getting closer and closer to the walls, and I will be attacking more than any other weekend, yes.
“There are a few weekends like this where I come here thinking I’m going to try to win. Maybe it’s our worst weekend and we don’t have points – you never know, it’s a very specific track – but there are those kind of one-offs that you try to maximize.
“In Q2 we saw Max (Verstappen) gearbox failure in Saudi Arabia; we had problems with Checo’s (Perez) car in Australia in all practice and qualifying, so if one of these things happens on Sunday you automatically close the gap and it starts to get more interesting. So the championship is long and we will not give up.
Honda’s full factory return with the Aston Martin has led to questions about whether the Japanese manufacturer is working with Alonso again in 2026 to consider him.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do in 2026. I’d be lying if I said I know now. I definitely feel fresh, I feel motivated now, I feel sharp, still fast and if I keep having fun I would love to keep racing. But I know one day I’m going to wake up and I won’t feel motivated or happy to keep traveling and stuff like that. Or maybe I’m not feeling fast and I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say maybe it’s time.
“Let’s see. I think 2026 is still a long way to go. Now I will focus on Monaco first because it’s an important weekend and then this season. Next, hopefully we can take the next step and fight for bigger things.
“And then racing Honda again, no, that won’t be a problem for me. I know the last time it didn’t come out was in 2015, ’16, ’17. Maybe it was even worse for some of my teammates like Stoffel (Vandoorne) or anyone else who dominated F3, F2 and then joined a project that maybe wasn’t fully ready at the time. But I think they have proven that they have a competitive package now. They won the championship in 21, they won the championship in 22, they will most likely win the championship in 23, so I think they have a very strong package now. It’s a new set of rules, but I think it’s going to be a very exciting project for sure.”
