"This is probably the worst generation of cars I ever drove in Monaco," says two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.

One of the fiercest critics of the 2026 regulations, the Spaniard faces misery not only this weekend in Monaco but for the foreseeable future.

However, it is his struggles around the Principality that have caused him to voice his strongest criticism yet.

"The way you charge the battery, with the braking and lifting off and things like that, obviously creates a lot of inconsistency into the engine braking of the car," he told reporters. "Sometimes you have less, sometimes you have push and sometimes not.

"If the battery is completely full, then you don't recharge because the battery is full," he continued. "So you don't have engine braking. It's like pushing.

"It's just the rules," he sighed. "Hybrid cars should not be racing. It's as simple as that."

The Spaniard's attitude was not helped by the incident, late in FP1, when he lost the car under braking and clouted the barrier at the entrance to the Nouvelle Chicane.

"Now, we harvest a lot during braking," he said. "The rear axle is just charging the battery massively on the braking. And then you have these downshifts that you need to interact with the engine blip to engage the next gear.

"There are a lot of things going on this year and it seems that we are not at the level yet."

Watched on by Adrian Newey, Alonso said the Aston Martin is "way too inconsistent" and suffers "chronic understeer", an issue which the Silverstone-based outfit has been unable to sort thus far.

Check out our Friday gallery from Monaco here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Chester, 7 hours ago

"I bet the kids weaned on video games could drive these 2026 regulation cars quite well. Gone is the athletic performance; replaced with electronic games.

It is not sport for me."

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2. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 8 hours ago

"Its plainly clear F1 need to rethink this power unit debacle sooner rather than later for the good of the sport."

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3. Posted by KKK, 9 hours ago

"Totally agree with Alonso : Hybrids have no place in racing, let alone F1. Its destroying the whole ethos of Formula 1 and racing. The sooner they go back to ICE only the better."

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Alonso hits out at hybrid

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