Fernando Alonso was 'faster than the Ferraris' on way to Aston Martin breakthrough

Fernando Alonso secured his best result of the 2026 Formula 1 season with an eighth-place finish during the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The Spanish driver's best result prior to this weekend was a ninth-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix earlier this season at Zandvoort, which was only his second points-scoring finish.

Ahead of the Grand Prix on Sunday at the Sepang International Circuit, the start was delayed due to weather conditions and then a technical issue that affected multiple cars.

However, Alonso was able to make the most of the bizarre circumstances and used them to his advantage to score points, battle his way through the order, and fight with teams he usually would not be around, like Ferrari and McLaren.

After finishing in eighth place, Alonso said, "Yeah, it was a fun race for sure. A lot of things going on since the beginning, you know, with the red flags, and then we wait a lot in the pit lane. 

“So, we decided to start with the slick tires, so obviously it was not the right decision, but, you know, at that point it felt good. We were even faster than the Ferraris. 

“I overtook Hamilton. I was pulling away from him, so at that point I thought, okay, you know, this is going well. But obviously, you know, we were very slow with the slick, and thanks to the safety car, everything regrouped and started a new race from that point onwards. 

“I am happy for the team. There are not many weekends when we can score points, and on those weekends, we cannot make any mistakes, and we cannot lose the opportunities. So, we executed well today, so I'm happy for the team, for the points."

Next weekend, Formula 1 heads to Singapore, a Grand Prix that Alonso and Aston Martin will now be looking forward to after a positive weekend in Malaysia.

The two-time champion explained that Aston Martin expected to be stronger in Singapore than in Malaysia, so he is rather optimistic about his chances at the Singapore Grand Prix.

“I think Singapore, on paper, was better than Malaysia. So, I think the performance we showed this weekend is obviously nice and encouraging for next weekend. 

“If we can repeat or improve the kind of performance we showed today. I’m looking forward. It's going to be an exciting next five days waiting for first qualy."