Fernando Alonso explains rare crash in F1 Canadian GP sprint qualifying
Fernando Alonso reacts to his crash in sprint qualifying at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix.
Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso says he was a “passenger” in his sprint qualifying crash at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Aston Martin driver hit the barriers at Turn 3 after suffering a big lock-up on his final lap of the first part of Friday’s sprint qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
“Yeah sorry, lock-up mate,” Alonso reported over team radio after his accident, which brought out a red flag with less than two minutes remaining on the clock in SQ1.
At the time of the crash, Alonso was 14th fastest. With others running out of time to improve when the session restarted, it meant he got an Aston Martin through to the second part of a qualifying session for the first time this season.
Alonso was unable to take part in the second part of qualifying and will subsequently start 16th for Saturday’s sprint race.
Explaining the incident, the 44-year-old Spaniard told Sky Sports F1: "I locked up the front and you are a passenger after that. There is no room to avoid anything here in Canada. Too much on the limit.
"We are a little bit behind and we don't have the pace. We are P14, I guess, so we were pushing seven or eight places ahead of what we should have.”
Lance Stroll could only qualify 18th as he failed to progress out of SQ1 on home soil.
"We did what we could to get out for one final lap after the red flag, but the tyres were too cold after sitting in the pitlane and we couldn't improve the lap time,” the Canadian said.
“That’s just how it goes sometimes. We’ll go through the data, see where we can improve and hopefully make some progress tomorrow.”
At least on Alonso’s side, it marked another small step in the right direction for Aston Martin following a nightmare start to the 2026 season.
Alonso sits 21st in the championship with no points, while Aston Martin are 11th and last in the constructors’ standings.
The Silverstone-based outfit recorded its first two-car finish this year last time out at the Miami Grand Prix.
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