Fernando Alonso withdrew from the Canadian Grand Prix after 23 laps on Sunday, citing an uncomfortable seat position in his Aston Martin that was causing him increasing pain throughout the race. The two-time world champion had already encountered the same issue during Saturday’s sprint race, which also forced him to retire early from that session.
Speaking to media after his retirement, Alonso explained that the discomfort became progressively worse as the laps accumulated. “We had this seat issue where I feel more and more uncomfortable with the laps,” the Spanish driver said. “The position doesn’t feel the right one, and yeah, we were obviously out of the points, quite far from the points, and no threat of rain anymore. So we decided to stop the pain.”
Aston Martin attempted to resolve the problem between Saturday’s sprint and Sunday’s main race, but their modifications proved unsuccessful. Alonso confirmed the team would create an entirely new seat configuration for the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix. “We tried to modify a few things last night, didn’t work, so we try to make a new one for Monaco,” he stated.
Team principal Mike Krack acknowledged that the seat positioning has been an ongoing concern for Alonso. “He has been uncomfortable for a while,” Krack explained. “And never to the point where it was really like a showstopper, but it’s like a pressure point, you feel it gets worse and worse.” Krack suggested the team may have pushed the driver position too low in pursuit of aerodynamic gains, noting that modern F1 cars require increasingly reclined driving positions.
Despite the premature exit, Alonso showed glimpses of pace early in the Montreal race, climbing to 10th position by lap three after starting on soft tires while others struggled on intermediates in mixed conditions. However, he gradually fell back to his “natural position” as he described it, reflecting Aston Martin’s current performance struggles in the 2024 season.