Alonso shows wet pace, finishes 12th in São Paulo
NXTbets Pro | Published On: November 10, 2026
Alonso wet pace
Fernando Alonso finished 12th at Interlagos in São Paulo, and the Aston Martin driver missed the points by a narrow margin after first-lap contact with Oliver Bearman left him with front-wing damage. The result masked a weekend that gave Aston Martin real encouragement in the wet, starting with Alonso’s qualifying effort. He lined up inside the top 10 in wet conditions for the first time all season. That pace carried into the race, where Aston Martin told Alonso late that he was quicker than the Mercedes in wet conditions. Alonso later said the car was “phenomenal,” and he made clear how much that meant in a race where he could press forward instead of sitting back and protecting position. He said the Aston Martin let him race with Ferraris, and he passed Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari on merit. That was the kind of movement his car made possible when the track was soaked and the grip level was high. The result still left him outside the points, but the pace in those conditions gave Aston Martin a cleaner read on what the car can do when weather levels the field.
Alonso racecraft
As the track dried, Alonso’s afternoon turned more difficult. The AMR26 lost some of its edge when straight-line speed became more important, and that left him fighting to hold position as the conditions changed around him. The wet sections still suited the Aston Martin, but the drying asphalt exposed a weakness that kept him from turning that early promise into a points finish. When the rain came back, the team reacted quickly and switched Alonso to intermediate tires, a move that kept him in the fight as the conditions shifted again. Even with the car’s limitations on the straights, Alonso kept finding ways to measure himself against the midfield pack and against faster names around him. He said the car gave him something he could attack with rather than defend with, and that attitude showed in the way he handled the changing race. He finished ahead of both Alpine cars, both Williams cars and both Haas cars, which gave Aston Martin a clearer picture of where the pace sat across the field. The final result was still 12th, but the race showed how much of the AMR26’s value came when the grip was low and the drivers around him had to adapt fast.
Aston Martin outlook
Aston Martin left Brazil still 10th in the constructors’ standings and five points behind Williams, so the points picture remains tight even after Alonso’s strong wet-weather display. The team also had another setback with Lance Stroll, who retired again with an ERS battery problem. That made it his eighth DNF in the last 10 Grands Prix, a run that has kept Aston Martin from building more consistent momentum alongside Alonso’s flashes of speed. Mike Krack said the weekend was strong overall and that the pace looked better than several faster cars, which matched the evidence from the wet parts of the race and Alonso’s qualifying effort. Alonso’s performance also reinforced a familiar theme for Aston Martin, which is that the package can look far stronger when weather brings the field closer together. The challenge now is turning that wet pace into something more repeatable when the circuit dries out and top-end speed matters more. For one race in São Paulo, though, the AMR26 gave Alonso enough to challenge cars around him and enough to show the team where its strengths still live.
