Positive feedback from wet-weather competition
Aston Martin left the São Paulo Grand Prix on November 8 with mixed outcomes. Fernando Alonso finished 12th and praised the AMR26 through the corners, while Lance Stroll retired with a battery problem whose root cause Honda had yet to identify.
Alonso reached the qualifying top 10 for the first time this season in Saturday’s rain. He remained competitive in the opening race stint and, even after losing ground, passed Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari on track. He scored no points but welcomed the car’s feel.
He described it as his best race of the season for car feeling, highlighting battles with Ferrari. On Intermediates in the final five laps, he could also run near the Mercedes cars while a lap down.
Straight-line performance and driveability
Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack said Aston Martin should be satisfied with a weekend in which it finished ahead of some faster competitors in qualifying and the race. He described Alonso’s 12th place and Stroll’s battery-related retirement as mixed fortunes.
Honda trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara said wet conditions concealed some engine-performance and energy-deployment weaknesses, while driveability remained important. The latter concerns how power delivery responds to the driver. He saw positives alongside areas needing further improvement for the next race and next year.
Finding the cause of consecutive failures
Stroll had battery problems on both Saturday and Sunday. Orihara said Honda understood the error but had yet to establish its root cause. Examining the data and battery could take weeks, with that investigation needed to develop countermeasures.
Honda’s reliability had improved in mid-season before several issues over the last two or three races. Orihara said it was too early to link the latest battery problems to mileage or operating conditions. Aston Martin remained 10th in the constructors’ standings, five points behind Williams. Alonso last scored in Malaysia.
