After Miami, the conversation around Aston Martin’s 2026 form has taken a sharp turn. According to what we’ve been hearing from the paddock, the coverage you’ll find on the Jogo Hoje homepage has been tracking the same pattern: the unit of power was the early villain, but Fernando Alonso says the real problem is now sitting in the câmbio.
It’s a tense, pragmatic admission, and it matters—because next up is the GP of Canada, 22 to 24 May, the fifth round of the season. Montreal doesn’t forgive sloppy reduções de marcha and messy trocas para cima. It punishes them, loudly, into the braking zones of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
What Alonso revealed after Miami
At the GP of Miami on 3 May, Aston Martin still managed to get both cars to the finish line. Alonso started 17th and came home 15th, while Lance Stroll ended 17th. Valtteri Bottas was one of the few who dipped into the soft tyres package at least once, but the bigger story for Alonso wasn’t tyre strategy—it was mechanical feel.
He pointed the finger away from the engine and toward the transmission, describing the car as “strange” during the reduções de marcha and trocas para cima. That’s not a vague complaint. That’s a drivability diagnosis, the kind that tells you drivers are fighting the car rather than driving the track.
Why the engine fell out of the urgency list
Early in 2026, Aston Martin lived under the shadow of unit of power problems. Alonso didn’t deny that history, but in Miami he said the balance of issues had flipped. He’s pretty blunt about it: during the whole weekend, he felt the câmbio was more troublesome than the engine.
And that shift is strategically huge. If your engine is the bottleneck, you chase reliability and output. If the gearbox is the bottleneck, you chase behaviour—how the AMR26 reacts when the driver demands precision, especially when the brakes are on the edge and the next move is dictated by timing.
What’s wrong with the AMR26 gearbox
Alonso’s language is telling. He said the car wasn’t “under control” during the moments that define lap time: heavy braking, the sequence that forces the driver to execute reduções de marcha, then clean trocas para cima once the traction window opens.
- It wasn’t just an occasional hiccup. He framed it as a weekend theme.
- He implied it could be electronics or something related, but the priority is still the transmission behaviour.
- The core target is dirigibilidade: the car must respond predictably under load changes.
In plain terms, if the AMR26 doesn’t match the driver’s inputs during the downshift-upshift rhythm, the lap time evaporates before you even factor out tyre management. You get a car that feels late, inconsistent, or unwilling to slot into the next gear cleanly—especially when the driver is asking for calm, not chaos.
Why Montreal could expose the problem even more
Canada is where driver technique and machinery politics collide. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is built around brutal braking phases, then immediate commitment out of the slow-to-fast transitions. Those are exactly the corners where a gearbox that behaves oddly under freada forte will make you pay.
Alonso didn’t just say “gearbox.” He said the team needs to improve how it behaves in that critical moment. That’s a warning shot for Montreal: if the transmission calibration is still wrestling during reduções de marcha, the driver will have to compensate. And compensation is costly—on speed, on tyre life, and on confidence.
So yes, the engine can be a background issue again. But if the câmbio remains the weak link, Canada could turn a manageable frustration into a full-on performance ceiling.
What Aston Martin can still fix before Canada
Alonso was careful about expectations. He said Aston Martin isn’t counting on a performance leap in the coming weeks. The plan, as he framed it, is to take a step toward better dirigibilidade now, not to magically leap up the order of forces before summer.
That’s the pragmatic approach—and honestly, it’s the only one that makes sense when you’re chasing gearbox behaviour rather than replacing an entire engine architecture. Before Montreal, the work is likely to be calibration-focused: shift timing, downshift logic, and how the car manages the transition moments when drivers are stacking braking pressure with gear selection.
And there’s another layer: the team has to keep the squad mentally aligned. Alonso sounded like a leader managing frustration levels, reminding everyone that the real bigger improvement window is after the summer break, in August. In other words, they’re not selling miracles—just progress you can feel in the cockpit.
O Veredito Jogo Hoje
Alonso isn’t whining; he’s calling the shot. When the diagnosis moves from unidade de potência to câmbio, it tells you Aston Martin’s problem is no longer raw power—it’s the car’s ability to translate inputs into traction and speed without fighting the driver during freada forte. Montreal will be the truth serum, because if the AMR26 still misbehaves in reduções de marcha and trocas para cima, Aston’s “we’re working on it” becomes “we’re stuck again.” E a F1, como sempre, não perdoa quem perde controle.
Perguntas Frequentes
What is the main problem with Aston Martin according to Alonso?
Alonso says the priority is the AMR26’s gearbox behaviour—specifically how it handles reduções de marcha and trocas para cima when the car is under heavy braking, hurting dirigibilidade.
Why does the GP of Canada worry the team?
Because the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve features intense freada forte and demanding braking-to-acceleration transitions, which can magnify any issues in the gearbox’s shift timing and response.
Can Aston Martin improve before the summer break?
Alonso suggests they can make a step in dirigibilidade and gearbox behaviour before Canada, but he doesn’t expect a major performance jump until after the summer break, in August.
