Honda admits engine upgrade weakness after Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll comments

Aston Martin engine partner Honda has admitted that driveability is still an area of weakness following the debut of its upgraded power unit at last month’s Dutch Grand Prix.

Honda’s updated engine raced for the first time at Zandvoort, where Fernando Alonso secured Aston Martin’s second points finish of the F1 2026 season by finishing ninth.

Honda admits driveability weakness with upgraded F1 2026 engine

Despite the improved result, Alonso raised complaints over the driveability of the new Honda engine, revealing that Aston Martin was struggling with downshifts and engine braking.

Alonso’s comments were echoed by teammate Lance Stroll, who remarked that Honda’s step forward was “not nearly enough.”

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, Honda trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara conceded that driveability remains an issue.

Yet he confirmed that the new engine provided a step forward in performance at Zandvoort.

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He said: “We introduced the new-spec engine in the Netherlands.

“We have observed a step forward in terms of performance on our metrics, as expected. We have confirmed on the dyno, so that was the positive thing we found in Netherlands.

“But on the other hand, we found something which can improve on driveability.

“So we have prepared, or we have updated combustion characteristic, and then we prepare the data setting and new tools to adapt new combustion to get more good driveability.

“But it was not enough to certify driveability even though that is our improvement point. That is we found in the Netherlands.

“We will bring back all data to dyno and bring back all driver feedback to the dyno. And in HRC Sakura, they have carried out some testing to improve our control to get more driveability.

“So main focus point will be confirmed in Monza.”

The Italian Grand Prix is expected to be a challenging weekend for Honda and Aston Martin due to the long straights – and high energy demands – at Monza.

Orihara added that Honda is still aiming to extract slightly more from its upgraded engine.

He said: “We think we have some room to improve performance by optimising the data.

“We have brought some calibration change for this track to maximise our performance, but it’s not going to be a big change, just to optimise.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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