Alonso warns Aston Martin Honda issues have no quick fix after Suzuka setback

Fernando Alonso has warned Aston Martin’s issues with Honda have no quick fix after the vibrations that forced his China retirement returned at Suzuka.

In what has been a tricky start to the new Aston Martin and Honda alliance, with the AMR26 suffering vibrations caused by the Honda power unit.

Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin Honda issues won’t be fixed quickly

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That has limited the team’s running, putting Aston Martin on the back foot.

Last time out in China, Alonso had to retire from the grand prix due to the vibrations that were noticeable in the Spaniard’s onboard footage. Alonso was also seen removing his hands from the steering wheel down the main straight, shaking them as he did.

He called time on his running after 32 laps.

The double world champion was back behind the wheel of his AMR26 in Friday’s second practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, having handed his car over to reserve driver Jak Crawford for FP1, and covered 24 laps.

He added a further 23 laps during FP3 and qualifying, but exited the latter in Q1 down in 21st place.

The lack of pace, though, wasn’t Alonso’s only issue on Saturday.

“Yesterday,” he revealed, “I felt quite good, and the vibrations on the car were a lot less. So I was happily surprised.

“Today, they came back.

“So it seems also a little bit of a random thing that we face day by day. So hopefully tomorrow we have a lucky day, and we can finish the race.”

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As for the pace, Alonso admits not much has improved with his Aston Martin despite the team bringing a new floor edge and front wing to the track.

The new father and his teammate Lance Stroll qualified on the last row of the grid, with Alonso 2.7s slower than Q1 pace-setter Charles Leclerc. Stroll was a further three-tenths down.

“Honestly, it didn’t change much compared to the first two races, it’s still the same car and still the same challenges that we are facing,” he said.

“So yeah, more or less what we expected.

“I think Suzuka is not the best track for us in terms of weaknesses on the car. It was tough, and it’s gonna be tough, I think for a few months.

“I don’t expect a big change from night to day.

“But at the same time, both factories are working in different solutions, different philosophies, that they are providing some nice results on paper – so not yet on the car.

“But this is Formula One, everything takes time. And we race every two weeks, and we don’t have that time, but we need to remain patient.”

Aston Martin has yet to reach the chequered flag in a grand prix this season.

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