Alonso warns Aston Martin's random downshifts could cause Monaco wall crashes

Fernando Alonso has warned that a recurring gearbox fault on his Aston Martin AMR26 poses a genuine crash risk at the Monaco Grand Prix, where the narrow street circuit leaves almost no margin for mechanical unpredictability.

The two-time world champion was visibly hampered by the issue during qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix, finishing 1.2 seconds adrift of the Q2 cutoff time. The fault is gearbox-related but sits within the broader power unit system — a combination that emerged after Aston Martin moved from Mercedes customer engines to Honda works powertrains while simultaneously beginning to manufacture its own gearboxes.

“Monaco is not the place to have a random downshift, to have rear locking or pushing or something like that, because then you will crash into the wall, and the driver will look stupid,” Alonso said. “But we are passengers sometimes when you put one gear down and you have push on the engine, like going on full throttle. So that’s the thing that we need to make sure that we made a step in the right direction.”

Teammate Lance Stroll confirmed the problem persists below 40 km/h, a threshold that will be crossed repeatedly at Monaco’s tight Loews hairpin. “Every time we’re under 40km/h we lose sync a few gears,” Stroll said. “Like here for example, every time we go through Loews hairpin, we’re going to lose sync completely on the gears. Then we’re going to have to sync those again, which is huge lap time every time we have to sync a gear.”

Alonso noted some improvement in Canada, where he reached SQ2 in sprint qualifying, but said the fix was incomplete. The Spaniard is candid about Aston Martin’s broader competitive position heading into Monaco, suggesting a points finish would require fortune rather than pace.

“Looking at the first races, I would say that there is no chance to score points, because I think the top 10 cars and top five teams are quite well ahead of everyone else,” he said. “To be in the top 10, I think it’s very, very difficult and very hard. But I don’t know, it’s Monaco. We try to do our best weekend possible.”