Stroll ends 42-race qualifying streak against Alonso at Barcelona-Catalunya GP
Lance Stroll outqualified Fernando Alonso at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, ending a 42-race streak that dated back to the 2024 British Grand Prix. Stroll qualified P21, just 0.057 seconds ahead of his teammate. Both Aston Martins were eliminated in Q1 and locked out the final row, more than a second adrift of the Cadillacs ahead of them.
Stroll beats Alonso for the first time in 42 grands prix
Lance Stroll outqualified Fernando Alonso at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on Saturday 13 June, ending one of the longest intra-team qualifying streaks in recent Formula 1 history. [1] The margin was fine: Stroll classified P21 and Alonso P22, separated by just 0.057 seconds after their final runs on a third set of new soft tyres. [4]
A streak stretching back to Silverstone 2024
The sequence that came to a close at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya had begun after the 2024 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. [1] From that point, Alonso outqualified his Canadian teammate at 42 consecutive grand prix weekends. [5] Stroll had beaten Alonso once in the interim period, during sprint qualifying at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix, but that session did not count toward the grand prix qualifying tally. [1]
How the session unfolded for Aston Martin
Both Aston Martins ran soft tyres from the opening minutes of Q1 in conditions that Honda Racing reported as an air temperature of 31°C and a track temperature of 50°C. [4] On their second run, Stroll went off at Turn 10 and into the gravel, and Alonso aborted his lap behind him; at that point Alonso was P21 and Stroll P22. [4] On their third and final sets of new softs, Stroll improved across all three sectors to move to P21, while Alonso improved in sectors two and three but finished 0.057 seconds adrift. [4]
Neither driver progressed beyond Q1. [3] The pair locked out the final row of the grid and were more than a second behind the Cadillacs in P19 and P20. [1]
A wider picture of Aston Martin's 2026 struggles
The result at Barcelona is consistent with Aston Martin's broader trajectory under Formula 1's 2026 technical regulations. [1] The team and engine partner Honda have qualified on the back row at multiple events this season. [3] Alonso subsequently had power unit components changed on his AMR26 after qualifying, moving him to a pit-lane start for Sunday's race. [2]
:::analysis Ending a 42-race streak is a factual milestone, but the context matters: both drivers qualified last and last-but-one, more than a second off the Cadillacs. The internal benchmark shifted, yet neither car is close to the competitive midfield. For Aston Martin the more pressing concern is absolute pace rather than the relative gap between its two drivers. Until the team's performance converges with the rest of the grid, qualifying positions in the low twenties carry limited strategic weight regardless of which driver leads the other. :::
Related reading
- [1]Barcelona-Catalunya GP: Lance Stroll outqualified teammate Fernando Alonso: 'I don't care' (espn). Accessed 2026-06-14.
- [2]OFFICIAL 2026 BARCELONA-CATALUNYA GRAND PRIX GRID: Who starts where (formula1). Accessed 2026-06-14.
- [3]Winners and losers from 2026 Barcelona GP F1 qualifying (the-race). Accessed 2026-06-14.
- [4]Stroll P21, Alonso P22 in Barcelona-Catalunya GP Qualifying (honda-racing). Accessed 2026-06-14.
- [5]Lance Stroll breaks torrid Fernando Alonso streak in Barcelona shock (racingnews365). Accessed 2026-06-14.