Alonso insists he remains the best driver in F1 despite Aston Martin's struggles

Fernando Alonso arrived at the Canadian Grand Prix media day with a characteristically blunt response to questions about his form: “I’m the best. I don’t need to prove anything. I don’t need to feel anything to believe that I’m at the right level.”

The two-time world champion, now 44, has been unable to challenge for the positions he would expect this season as Aston Martin and Honda continue to work through significant problems with the AMR26. But Alonso is clear that the car’s lack of competitiveness says nothing about his own ability.

To measure himself outside of Formula 1’s team-dependent environment, Alonso has been testing himself in karts and GT machinery — and says the results give him all the reassurance he needs. “If I go to a go-kart track and I’m not the fastest, then I will be worried. If I go to a GT car and I’m not the fastest, I will be worried,” he said. “Meanwhile, I’m doing that, and I’m still the fastest, so when I come to the Formula 1 weekend, it’s just a matter of time that I have a better car.”

That belief, he explained, is also what sustains his motivation deep into a career that has now stretched across more than two decades. “I’m waiting for the opportunity, and meanwhile, trying to help the team. And don’t lose the competitive edge that you need to have in Formula 1. So driving different categories, different cars, testing yourself into different series and different cars, and feel yourself competitive.”

Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack acknowledged the toll the team’s struggles are taking on its drivers, stressing the importance of shielding them from the relentless cycle of questions about a car that is not yet where it needs to be. “The drivers are the ones that need to be protected the most because you ask them the same question every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And then the week after again,” Krack said. “So for them it is the most difficult to be repetitive and give you each time the same response. We need to protect the drivers from that. Because they accumulate that frustration being at the back of the field.”

Major upgrades to the AMR26 are not expected until the summer, meaning Aston Martin and both its drivers face several more difficult weekends in the near term as the European leg of the season gets underway.