Despite the arrival of a Honda engine upgrade at Zandvoort, Aston Martin remains in great difficulty. Lance Stroll directly points out the weaknesses of the Japanese power unit.
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Aston Martin hoped to use the Dutch Grand Prix to take a new step forward in its progress. After a clear return to form for the chassis in Hungary, the British team had a highly anticipated upgrade to its Honda power unit at Zandvoort.
However, qualifying resulted in another disappointment. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were both eliminated in Q1 and will start from 18th and 19th positions respectively.
While the AMR26 chassis now seems to be progressing in the right direction, both drivers primarily point to the performance and behavior of the Honda engine as the next major area of work.
Stroll very critical of the Honda engine
Asked about the improvements brought by the new specification of the Japanese engine, Lance Stroll did not try to hide his disappointment.
“Not really. Maybe a little, but it’s absolutely not enough,” said the Canadian.
The assessment is much more encouraging regarding the rest of the car. Stroll believes that the recent developments have allowed Aston Martin to make a real leap forward.
“On the chassis side, I think we’re pretty good. We took a big step forward in Budapest, and then another one here. Engine behavior and power are now the areas we really need to work on.”
Beyond the power deficit, Stroll mainly complains about unpredictable power unit behavior during corner entry phases.
“It’s not good. It’s a lottery. At the moment, we’re simply not getting consistent enough engine braking on corner entry and we have a lot of denied downshifts. So there are still a lot of problems.”
These difficulties considerably complicate the driver’s job, especially on a circuit as technical as Zandvoort.
Alonso, however, sees immense progress
Despite his elimination in the first part of qualifying, Fernando Alonso prefers to look at the general trend. The Spaniard particularly highlights how much Aston Martin has reduced its gap to the top teams in just a few races.
Oscar Piastri, who set the fastest time in Q1, was only about 1.3 seconds ahead of Alonso.
“We used to be on average 4.5 seconds behind the leader. So we gained three seconds in two races,” emphasizes the double world champion.
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A spectacular figure that encourages Alonso to remain optimistic despite a very complicated starting position.
“I think we maximized what we had. The team’s trajectory and performance are encouraging. It’s incredible. Everything is working as expected, but it’s a tough sport and you always have to keep progressing.”
Aston Martin now awaits a response from Honda
Like Stroll, Alonso believes, however, that a significant part of the remaining potential now lies with Honda. Aston Martin will not be able to solve all its problems simply by adjusting settings during the weekend.
“Unfortunately, here, trackside, there’s not much we can do. We have to rely on big changes at the factory, whether it’s software or whatever else is needed.”
The next advances will therefore have to come directly from Sakura, where Honda develops its power unit.
“It has to come from Japan, so it won’t happen overnight. It’s more towards Monza that we need to find a new step. There are a few tenths to optimize in the overall package.”
Alonso also believes that the AMR26 no longer loses much ground in corners. The deficit would mainly be in the straight lines, confirming the current limits of the Honda engine.
Potentially better race pace
Aston Martin could nevertheless show a more convincing face in the race. Alonso believes that the qualities of the chassis become more visible when the tires start to degrade.
“Normally, we are better in race pace because our chassis is very good. When our opponents have more worn tires, we can rely more on the good grip of our chassis and less on that of the tires.”
One major problem remains: overtaking. Even with a faster pace than some cars ahead of it, Aston Martin risks suffering on the straight lines.
“We can do a better job, but at the same time we can’t overtake on the straight lines. So we are in a difficult situation, but we will do our best.”
For Aston Martin, the observation therefore seems to be confirmed: after the progress made on the chassis, a significant part of the next step will now have to come from Honda.
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