Aston Martin disaster, even Perez surprised: “I hoped Alonso was fighting with the leaders”

The bottom of the grid The two teams bringing up the rear of the Formula 1 grid in this very first part of the 2026 season were Cadillac and Aston Martin. If suffering and difficulties were widely expected for the US team – making their debut in the Circus -, the big surprise was represented by the total failure of the AMR26 and the Aston Martin-Honda project. A flop of sensational dimensions that left Cadillac standard bearer Sergio Perez himself dismayed. The Mexican, an old fox of the Circus, knows very well many of the elements that make up the Aston Martin environment: he worked for a long time in the Silverstone team when it was called Force India first and Racing Point later and in his experience in Red Bull he collaborated with Honda and with the designer Adrian Newey, hired by Aston Martin at a price of gold and promoted at the end of last year to the role of team principal. But obviously something went wrong. Checo amazed “The truth is that I didn’t expect it. I was hoping that Fernando (Alonso) would be fighting for the top places. I really believed in the project with Newey – admitted the Mexican veteran to DAZN during an interview – I worked with Adrian at Red Bull and also with Honda. But in short, these are the surprises that this category has in store for you and so at the moment we find ourselves fighting with Fernando.” Perez then also joked about his and Alonso’s situation (the two have a good friendship), admitting that he had asked the former McLaren, Ferrari and Renault star to ‘wait for him’ in his improvements: “I always tell Fernando, jokingly, not to improve too quickly, so we can have fun together and start recovery together.” However, #14 will hardly want to wait for his friend-rival, with whom he has been the protagonist of memorable battles in the past, such as the one in the 2023 Sao Paulo GP.