Fernando Alonso: Watching Barcelona GP With Fans Is “Better Than in the Car”
· Yahoo Sports
There are home crowds, and then there is Fernando Alonso at Barcelona. The two are not comparable to anything else in Formula 1.
During the driver parade ahead of the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, Alonso climbed down from the back of the flatbed truck, gave a thumbs-up to a camera crew, and simply started walking the circuit’s grassy verge while the bus carried on without him. He didn’t need a ride. An Aston Martinsafetycar pulled alongside him – he walked past that too. Then the grandstands came into view, packed almost entirely in green, flags waving, and the chant started. “Alonso! Alonso! Alonso!”
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He stopped for a quick interview, grinned, grabbed a t-shirt cannon from the reporter, and jogged toward the chain-link fence to fire merchandise into the crowd before going in for high-fives. The whole thing was gloriously chaotic and completely on-brand.
“I’m gonna stay here to watch the race, it’s better than in the car,” Alonso said during the parade, which, given where Aston Martin currently sits in the 2026 pecking order, could be a reasonable suggestion.
The Weight Behind the Weekend
Alonso has admitted the 2026 Spanish GP may be his last Formula 1 race at this circuit, with Barcelona absent from the 2027 calendar before its scheduled return in 2028. The 44-year-old is contracted only through the end of 2026, and with the calendar changes now confirmed, there’s a real possibility he never races at Barcelona again.
The fans had already made their feelings known earlier in the week, with thousands chanting “Alonso quedate” – Alonso, stay – during his appearance at the fan zone on Thursday.
Many of the 2,000 spectators who showed up to the F1 Fan Village in Plaça de Catalunya were dressed head to toe in Aston Martin merchandise, and some had been waiting hours specifically to catch a glimpse of him.
“I think it’s my 23rd Spanish Grand Prix, and all of them have been magical,” Alonso said. “And this last has to be magical as well.”
He then walked back some of the retirement framing. Alonso appeared to downplay the comment shortly after his press conference, saying “You already know how you have to treat the press from time to time.”
The honest part came when Alonso addressed the actual racing.
“I am not going to be competitive and I won’t be long in the car in qualifying,” he admitted, adding that he hoped to last longer in the race, even knowing the pace wouldn’t be there.
Aston Martin has faced significant struggles across 2026 despite switching to Honda power and fielding its first car designed under Adrian Newey‘s leadership.
None of that dampened anything in those grandstands. Alonso walking away from the parade bus toward a roaring fence full of fans in green, t-shirt cannon in hand, is probably the most Fernando Alonso thing that has ever happened. Whatever comes next for his career, that image will last considerably longer than any lap time from this weekend.