Fernando Alonso retires from troubled Canadian GP after unusual seat issue

The two-time world champion initially made a strong start in Montreal and briefly climbed into tenth place during the early stages. However, as the circuit dried and conditions stabilised, Alonso gradually began to lose ground before eventually bringing his car back to the garage after 23 laps.

It marked yet another difficult weekend for Aston Martin, with the team once again unable to challenge for points.

According to Alonso, the retirement was caused by an ongoing issue with the seat position in his Aston Martin — a problem that had already affected him during Saturday’s sprint race, where he also retired. Despite efforts from the team to solve it before Sunday’s grand prix, the discomfort remained.

“We had this seat issue where I feel more and more uncomfortable with the laps,” Alonso explained, as quoted by Crash.net.

“The position doesn't feel the right one, and yeah, we were obviously out of the points, quite far from the points, and no threat of rain anymore. So we decided to stop the pain,” the Aston Martin driver added.

The Spaniard suggested there was little reason to continue once Aston Martin realised points were out of reach, especially with no changing weather conditions or safety cars likely to offer an opportunity to recover positions.

For Alonso and Aston Martin, the Canadian Grand Prix became another race to forget in what has so far been a difficult 2026 Formula 1 season.