Fernando Alonso jokes about rivals’ endless F1 upgrades: “It’s like they print money”. Fernando Alonso admits Aston Martin can't match rivals' relentless development.

Alonso on rivals’ “unlimited” upgrades: “It looks like they have machines printing money”

Fernando Alonso’s 2026 Formula 1 campaign has been anything but straightforward. The two-time world champion placed great faith in Aston Martin’s ambitious project, built around the arrival of Honda and legendary designer Adrian Newey. However, despite Lawrence Stroll‘s massive investment, the package assembled by the Silverstone-based team has so far fallen well short of expectations.

Aston Martin must wait for better days

Aston Martin is not expected to introduce any major upgrades over the next few Grands Prix, with a significant turnaround unlikely before the summer break. While several rival teams continue to bring fresh developments almost every race weekend, Fernando Alonso knows his team will have to remain patient before receiving meaningful improvements to the car.

The Spaniard addressed the situation with his trademark sense of humour, highlighting the relentless development pace of Formula 1’s leading teams.

“It’s impressive to look at the upgrade sheets every Friday,” Alonso said, as quoted by the Spanish newspaper AS. “It looks like the others have machines printing money at their factories. Apparently, we don’t have the money to bring unlimited upgrades like the other teams do.”

With Aston Martin’s next major update package still some way off, Fernando Alonso will have to rely on extracting the maximum from the current car while hoping the team’s long-term development plan eventually delivers the progress needed to return to the front of the Formula 1 grid.