ALONSO SAYS F1 HAS ‘VERY LOW QUALITY DRIVERS’ AT BACK OF GRID AFTER ALBON COLLISION

Fernando Alonso blamed Alexander Albon for a first-lap collision at COTA that wrecked what he called Aston Martin's strongest showing of 2026. Contact at turn 11 sent Alonso home 16th after starting 12th, while the Williams driver caught the sharper end of the Spaniard's frustration. "Albon forgot that corner 11 was there," Alonso said, before widening the blast: "The bottom third of the grid, the quality of the drivers is very low at the moment."

The stewards didn't investigate. Albon wasn't sure Alonso had seen him on the inside and chalked it up to lap-one chaos—though he admitted their second battle later was "quite fun." Alonso reckoned the damaged Aston could have scored points without the shunt, potentially ninth or tenth. Instead, Austin delivered another weekend of what-ifs for a team that can't convert pace into results.