Fernando Alonso to arrive late for F1 Japanese Grand Prix, misses media day

Fernando Alonso is set to arrive late to the Formule 1 Japanese Grand Prix weekend and skip media duties.

Alonso’s absence on Thursday in Suzuka is caused by personal reasons, as confirmed by a brief statement from the Aston Martin team.

The statement adds that Alonso will be at the track in time for the start of track running on Friday.

“Fernando is arriving slightly later this weekend for personal family reasons and won’t be attending media day at the Japanese Grand Prix,” reads the statement from Aston Martin.

“All is well and he will be at the track in time for Friday.”

The BBC has reported in more specific detail, saying that Alonso will be absent from his Thursday media commitments after the birth of his first child.

44-year-old Alonso was already set to start the Japan F1 weekend slightly late as a result of Aston Martin junior driver Jak Crawford getting a session in the car in FP1 to fulfill one of the team’s mandatory rookie driver sessions for the season.

Japan marks the third stop on the 2026 F1 calendar and the last one before what has turned into the April break, enforced due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The first two rounds have been disastrous for Aston Martin, whose partnership with Honda has been characterised in its first few months by reliability concerns relating to a vibration issue that affect the durability of the battery. The vibrations have also caused concern for the drivers themselves, with team principal Adrian Newey stating that neither Alonso or his teammate, Lance Stroll, could do more than 25 laps without suffering physical consequences after preseason testing.

Alonso is also without a race finish so far this year through two rounds, while Stroll’s only finish came with a deficit of 15 to race winner George Russell at the Australian Grand Prix after stopping in the pits to fix a technical issue before rejoining the race.

Aston Martin has also been at the centre of speculation recently that former Red Bull sporting director and Jonathan Wheatley could be joining it as team principal following the confirmation last week that he has left Audi’s F1 team after only two races.