Aston Martin Bahrain test disrupted by Honda spare parts shortage

Aston Martin’s troubled Bahrain test took another hit on Friday morning as Honda announced the team had to change its plans due to battery issues and a shortage of power unit parts.

Lance Stroll, however, didn’t put in a single lap in the opening two hours of the final day of pre-season testing on Friday.

Honda confirms battery issue for Aston Martin in Bahrain testing

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Aston Martin’s first season with its all-new Adrian Newey-designed car and Honda power unit has not gone to plan.

The AMR26 has completed fewer than 400 laps. Neither Stroll nor Fernando Alonso has experienced a trouble-free day

Even on Thursday, when Alonso covered 68 laps, his running was curtailed in the afternoon with what has now been confirmed as a battery issue.

That issue has now bled into Stroll’s final day in the car.

Although the car was fired up in the garage on Friday morning, a suspected fault forced the team to abandon running to work on fixing the problem.

Stroll did not complete a single lap in the opening two hours of running.

More on Aston Martin’s test troubles

Aston Martin ‘solution in place’ as Fernando Alonso lifts lid on ‘difficult start’

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A statement from Honda read: “Our last run with Fernando Alonso yesterday showed a battery-related issue that impacted our test plan with the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team.

“Since then, we have been carrying out simulations on the test bench in HRC Sakura.

“Due to this and a shortage of power unit parts, we have adapted today’s run plan to be very limited and consist only of short stints.”

It’s understood Aston Martin has also cancelled all scheduled press conferences for the day.

Fernando Alonso insisted on Wednesday in Bahrain that Aston Martin’s problems were not insurmountable despite how it may look from the outside.

“I think everything can be fixed, for sure, short and medium term,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media.

“I don’t think there is anything that is impossible to fix, but we need to wait and see.

“We will try to fix everything that we can before Australia and, after that, try to fix as many things as possible in the first couple of races before it’s too late in the championship.

“But no, I’m optimistic. I think there is a solution in place.”

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