Fernando Alonso names 'dream scenario' after horrid Aston Martin start

Fernando Alonso has named a "dream scenario" for Aston Martin of emulating McLaren's 2023 mid-season resurgence following its poor start to 2026.

Trouble with the Honda power unit has blunted Aston Martin's challenge for F1's new rules era, but the team has made strong steps forward, including Alonso recording the first classified finish of the season, seeing the chequered flag at the Japanese GP.

This was just two weeks after he retired in China after suffering from severe vibrations, which Adrian Newey suggested in Australia could give Alonso and Lance Stroll permanent nerve-damage in their fingers.  

Whilst the team and Honda try to work through its lack of performance and reliability, two-time world champion Alonso is hopeful that a 2023 McLaren-esque comeback will be possible later in the season.

That year, McLaren's MCL60 machine was born badly with technical director James Key removed from his position before a huge mid-season upgrade at the Austrian and British GPs transformed the car into a podium and race-winning contender from a midfield also-ran.

McLaren then continued on this upward trajectory to win the 2024 constructors' title and both drivers' and constructors' titles in 2025, doing so for the first time since 1998, with Alonso keen to point out this could be the blueprint for Aston Martin. 

"I think in a couple of months," Alonso told media, including RacingNews365, for a timeline of when Aston Martin could expect to be competitive.

"We saw McLaren in 2023, that they were last in the first couple of races, and they were eventually at the front at the end of the year.

"Maybe that is too optimistic, but it is a dream scenario. We know that the season is long, and if you understand the problems and fix them, you have plenty of time to be, in the second part of the year, or the last third, in a much better position, and that is what we're working on.

"There is huge potential in the car, and in the engine as well, and we've made progress since Bahrain [testing] in terms of deployment, and of understanding some of the driveability issues, so now we are in a much better position.

"We need to fix the vibrations, we still need to fix the power deficit, and there are fundamental things which are still on the back foot, but it is not that the team is watching the TV.

"They are working flat out, so we just need time, we need to be patient because whilst the factory is bringing the upgrades, we need to keep working and racing every weekend with a package which is not the most competitive at the moment."