Alonso slams 2026 F1 cars as button-press racing that demands no driver talent

Fernando Alonso declared that no “driver talent” is required to race Formula 1’s 2026 cars after Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, delivering his most pointed attack yet on the sport’s latest regulation overhaul.

The two-time world champion, who made his F1 debut in 2001 and has raced through multiple regulation eras, directed his frustration at the new 50-50 split between electric power and the internal combustion engine. That balance has produced a phenomenon dubbed ‘yo-yo’ racing, where fluctuating energy levels generate overtakes in unconventional locations — a pattern that was highly visible across the Silverstone weekend, particularly in the sprint race.

“Yesterday I saw replays of the sprint, people overtaking in the middle of the straights with more battery,” Alonso said. “So there is not any driver input or driver talent needed to overtake a car in front of you. You don’t need to outbrake anyone, you don’t need to overtake on the outside, you don’t need to take any risk. You just press one button, and you overtake if you have a better power unit than the car in front.”

Alonso had previously labelled the 2026 machinery the “worst” he had driven after the Monaco Grand Prix, and Silverstone did little to change his view. The 44-year-old finished outside the points for Aston Martin, who are currently scrapping with newcomer Cadillac at the back of the field, and his AMR26 shut itself off during the formation lap.

His concerns extend beyond the spectacle. Alonso explained that high-energy circuits like Silverstone and the upcoming Spa-Francorchamps venue for the Belgian Grand Prix expose a fundamental problem with energy deployment: drivers cannot commit their battery reserves to every straight without running dry for the remainder of the lap.

“If you deploy in Spa from Turn 1 to 5, it is finito for the rest of the lap,” he said. “But if you deploy in those two straights, which is the optimal deployment, then there is one minute, sector 2, with no deployment at all. And with no deployment at all, we cannot forget that this year we have significantly less power than last year and less power than F2 — that is the case when you cut the deployment.”

Alonso framed the dilemma as a question for the sport’s stakeholders rather than purely a personal grievance. “It depends what the fans and the sport wants,” he said, stopping short of calling for a regulatory reversal but making clear he believes the current formula undermines the craft of driving at the highest level.