Fernando Alonso retired from what could be his last Barcelona Grand Prix with a battery issue, and declared the fan support that he received throughout the weekend was his one and only highlight.<\/p>\n
Alonso arrived at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya well aware that it could be a difficult weekend for the struggling Honda-powered Aston Martin team.<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso hails Barcelona fans after Aston Martin retirement<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n After being out-qualified by team-mate Lance Stroll, Alonso rued \u201cthe worst car and the worst engine\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n His weekend suffered a further blow when Aston Martin announced that he would start the Grand Prix from the pit lane as the team had changed his energy store and MGU-K.<\/p>\n It had Alonso<\/a> telling his fans that he would rather \u201cstay here to watch the race\u201d with them as it would be \u201cmore comfortable than in the car\u201d.<\/p>\n Alas, his words proved prophetic.<\/p>\n Alonso spent the final 25 laps of the 66-lap Grand Prix on the sidelines after coming to a halt on the side of the track at Turn 9.<\/p>\n The double world champion revealed it was a sudden battery failure that led to his DNF.<\/p>\n Asked if he had any warning, he told PlanetF1.com and other media: \u201cNo, no, no.<\/p>\n \u201cThe engineer came on the radio saying to stop the car and jump out of the car. So I imagine it was an ERS problem when you have to jump out of the car.<\/p>\n \u201cApparently it\u2019s the battery.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe changed some of the parts that broke in the race, unfortunately.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are struggling on performance, but also on reliability, still not bulletproof. So, yeah, we\u2019re still dealing with a lot of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Alonso climbed out of his stricken Aston Martin as the crowd in the grandstand broke into chanting \u201cbravo, bravo Alonso\u201d.<\/p>\n The Spaniard billed the support from his home crowd as his one highlight of what is likely to be his final F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the venue for his last F1 win back in 2013.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the best part of the weekend,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fans were incredible the whole weekend. That was very, very nice feeling. Very emotional weekend for me, maybe the last in Barcelona.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, yeah, out the car, I enjoy it every minute, but unfortunately we didn\u2019t give to them what they deserve in terms of results.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully our second part of the year we can improve the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Alonso wasn\u2019t the only Aston Martin retirement on Sunday with Lance Stroll out of the Grand Prix with a gearbox issue on Lap 6.<\/p>\n Alonso said it is now up to Aston Martin to upgrade the AMR26, so that he can be in a position to capitalise as he did in Monaco, where he scored the team\u2019s first point of the championship.<\/p>\n F1 2026: The season\u2019s winners and losers<\/p>\n The results of the F1 2026 championship <\/a><\/p>\n The F1 2026 Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championship standings<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe need to stay together, for sure,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cThat point in Monaco proves that we are not giving up. Even if we were at the back of the grid, we were able to finish the race and take whatever opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have hopes for the second part of the year with improvement that we can be a little bit more competitive. We keep on working.<\/p>\n \u201cBut yeah, we need to see some results as well. Eventually we need to see some of the upgrades to make the car faster. The last few years, some of the upgrades didn\u2019t make the car really fast as we wanted.<\/p>\n \u201cSo there are some things to prove with this year\u2019s upgrades, and we are all hoping for the best.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n