Fernando Alonso warns Aston Martin still limited by Honda power unit spares

Fernando Alonso has suggested that Aston Martin remains in a precarious position when it comes to spare parts for the Honda power units.

Both Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll were eliminated in the opening phase of Sprint Qualifying though there were positives for the Silverstone-based operation.

Fernando Alonso cautions Aston Martin on Honda spare parts shortage

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A week on from a tough Australian Grand Prix, both Aston Martins featured in opening practice to log valuable mileage for both the team and engine partner Honda.

Alonso managed 18 laps through the opening hour of running while Stroll contributed 20.

In the same session a week ago, the team managed just three laps across its two cars.

“Our target today was to build up more mileage in order to have additional learnings for the energy management strategy and the driveability,” said Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s trackside general manager and chief engineer.

“Another target was to look at performance for tomorrow’s Sprint race, so having a problem-free FP1 and Sprint qualifying was important for us to prepare the data settings for the rest of the weekend.”

While a step improvement for Honda, Alonso has warned that it is not yet in the clear.

A lack of available spares risked his participation in Melbourne, with the two-time world champion suggesting things remain nervous.

“Try to complete laps,” he responded when asked what his weekend was looking like heading into Saturday’s Sprint.

“We don’t have any more stock on the power unit, so any problem could be very difficult for us for the rest of the weekend.

“We need to survive on reliability and then learn as much as we can.”

Honda has not confirmed how many – if any – spares of each element are available this weekend, though PlanetF1.com understands there is some capacity should reliability issues arise over the Chinese GP weekend.

Reliability concerns have been walked back slightly from what they were during pre-season testing.

Countermeasures introduced by Honda for the Australian Grand Prix were aimed at reducing battery vibration caused by the power unit.

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During testing, vibrations from the power unit caused battery issues, which Honda’s Sakura facility partially mitigated – though the underlying problem remains.

Track testing in Melbourne showed improvements, however the underlying vibration remains, a point which is especially uncomfortable for drivers.

That aside, team boss Adrian Newey believes the AMR26 is fundamentally a good car, held back by a lack of mileage.

The laps Alonso and Stroll added in China on Friday, no matter how modest, therefore carry high value.

They also suggested progress.

“Only two laps now in quali,” he said following Friday afternoon’s session.

“Yeah, we did some laps in FP and we try to get better on the chassis side until the engine is what it is.

“We try to improve for tomorrow but I think the limit is, more or less… Williams are like three-tenths in front – they were eight-tenths in Australia – so we made some progress, but obviously still far away.”

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