Fernando Alonso warns of ‘no difference’ for Aston Martin’s F1 problems in China

Fernando Alonso says his Aston Martin Formula 1 team “cannot give up” after its painful Australian Grand Prix, but concedes there will be “no difference” in China.

Aston Martin battled numerous mechanical issues with its Honda power unit across the Melbourne weekend, which severely limited its running.

Fernando Alonso briefly jumped from 17th on the grid to 10th at the start, before dropping back.

He then had a difficult first pit stop under the virtual safety car before returning to the pitlane just two laps later. The team pulled the car into the garage to make some adjustments for what turned out to be a 16m12s stop.

He was then sent out again to conduct what had become a test session before the team called him in again after 21 laps to preserve his battery and other components.

Lance Stroll, meanwhile, ran at the back of the field before a similar 18m01s stop to make changes. After some test mileage he too was retired after completing 43 laps.

“I think the start and the first two laps were the most enjoyable part of the race,” Alonso said when asked by Crash.net.

“Being P10 for two laps was unexpected, but I think the start is not our problem. While everyone else was struggling for the boost or whatever they had, for us, it was a clean lap.

“Obviously completely out of position, P10, so I fall back to P17, or whatever. And then we have a small issue on data that we have to stop the car.

“And then we think we repaired it, and then we went back out again. And I think another issue appears, so we have to stop the car for the second time.”

With Honda limited on battery parts at this stage, Alonso has warned that this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix will likely see a continuation of Aston’s difficulties.

“No different, no different,” he said. “For sure, we have the same car, the same power unit next weekend. So I expect another tough weekend. But meanwhile, we cannot give up.

“We need to keep on trying different solutions, especially on the chassis, and try to understand and get better in the package in general. I think we are not optimised in anything yet, because the lack of mileage, so China will be another good opportunity.”

He also noted that the vibration issue was still impacting the drivers: “It’s not the best feeling driving with this level of vibrations.

“I think Honda thinks that the vibrations of the battery are reduced since Bahrain, with some of the modifications, but that didn’t happen to the chassis yet because they need to isolate the battery in a different way.

“So I think it will take a little bit more time, but we try to do our best and to do as many laps as possible to help the team.”

Aston chief labels Australian GP “good day for the team”

Stroll had only driven a few laps on Friday prior to the race, and asked by Crash.net if he’d enjoyed the chance to at least do a start and some racing he made his frustration clear.

“Racing is a strong word!,” he said. “But we went out, we circulated. It was the only session I did all weekend, really. So it was nice to drive around the track a little bit and to get some kilometres in the car.

“The biggest problem is we just don’t have any speed, and no reliability. So that’s the biggest thing.”

Aston chief trackside officer Mike Krack saw the positives in that the team did some mileage and banked some useful knowledge. “I think today was from a performance point of view, probably not the best day in history,” he said.

“But it was a good day for us as a team, together with our partner in terms of mileage, in terms of reliability. Today was the day where we learned the most so far. And considering what we have had so far, I think this was a good day.”

Regarding the retirements of both cars he said: “I think it’s common knowledge that we are not rich in any parts, and there wasn’t much to gain from where we were, and we took the decision together to preserve the parts.”

Meanwhile Honda remains cagey about the battery situation for Shanghai. HRC trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara said: “I can’t say the exact number, how many batteries we have now, but we are pushing hard to get more batteries coming through.”