Fernando Alonso will watch the opening practice session of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix from the sidelines after Aston Martin confirmed reserve driver Jak Crawford will take over the Spaniard’s AMR26 for the first hour of running at Spa-Francorchamps.
The outing will be Crawford’s third Formula 1 practice appearance of the 2026 season, having already stepped into Aston Martin machinery during FP1 in Japan and Austria as part of the FIA’s mandatory rookie driver programme.
With each team required to field a rookie in four practice sessions over the course of the campaign, Aston Martin continues to tick off its obligations while giving the highly-rated American valuable mileage behind the wheel.
For Alonso, the Belgian Grand Prix marks the final occasion this season that he will surrender his car for a rookie session, having also stepped aside earlier in the year at Suzuka.
Lance Stroll, meanwhile, will still be required to miss another FP1 later in the campaign after already handing his car to Crawford in Austria.
Aston Martin still searching for answers
While Crawford gains another opportunity to impress, Aston Martin remains desperate to find performance from a package that has spent much of the season anchored near the back of the grid.
The Silverstone-based outfit has struggled to escape the foot of the field, with a Honda power unit that has consistently appeared down on performance compounded by an AMR26 that has rarely looked competitive on any type of circuit.
©Aston Martin
The results tell a sobering story. Aston Martin's best qualifying performance of the season remains
Alonso's P17 in both Melbourne and Miami, underlining just how difficult the campaign has become.
The team's only point also owed much to circumstance, with Alonso capitalising on the chaos of the Monaco Grand Prix last spring to salvage a solitary top-10 finish.
Read also: Newey admits Aston ‘guilty’ of leaving F1 drivers out of the loop
Against that backdrop, every lap of practice carries added significance as Aston Martin searches for clues that could help revive its fortunes.
Crawford's latest FP1 appearance may primarily satisfy a regulatory requirement, but it will also provide the team's engineers with another valuable stream of data as they continue trying to unlock more from a car that has so far fallen well short of expectations.
For Alonso, missing the opening hour at Spa is unlikely to alter the broader picture. The two-time world champion's focus will remain firmly fixed on extracting every possible tenth once he returns for the remainder of the weekend, as Aston Martin continues its uphill battle to climb away from the foot of the Formula 1 pecking order.
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