Honda stripped the power units sent back to Sakura after the Singapore Grand Prix and found no significant defect, Alonso confirmed in paddock remarks reported by PlanetF1 ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
Alonso said the inspection had cleared the hardware, but called the picture incomplete.
“There are a few things that we need to still understand,” Alonso told PlanetF1.
For Aston Martin, the Marina Bay weekend was a low point in an already thin campaign. Both AMR26s started from the pit lane after work carried out under parc fermé, and only Alonso’s car reached the chequered flag, in 16th. Stroll retired on lap 39 of 62 with what he later described as a clutch problem, his latest retirement in a year that has brought several.
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Honda’s own verdict
The engine side of the story was pieced together in Japan. Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara said the Sakura inspection confirmed what the data had already suggested, that nothing was broken.
“We did a thorough inspection, and, at the moment, we haven’t seen major issues on our power unit,” Orihara told Grande Prêmio.
The sting was that the new turbocharger introduced at Singapore had been designed precisely to tame the lag that was punishing Alonso off the slow corners. It did not.
“In Singapore, we introduced a new turbocharger to manage turbo lag. Still, we struggled to manage turbo lag in Singapore because of the unique track layout and also the energy situation,” Orihara said to Grande Prêmio.
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The Japanese manufacturer’s conclusion from the strip-down pointed at the control and energy management side, in Orihara’s words a system “not meeting driver demand”, rather than at a mechanical failure that could be fixed by swapping a part.
Austin as the real test
The Singapore weekend had already laid bare how much work remains. Over team radio Alonso erupted with “ridiculous this engine” during the race, and in the paddock he was blunt about where the trouble sat, naming drivability and turbo lag off the corner exits and the loss of time after the virtual safety car period, according to Motorsport Week.
He pushed Honda to dig deeper before the next run of races.
“We need to get on top of the issues: drivability, turbo lag,” Alonso told Motorsport Week.
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Aston Martin sit 10th in the constructors’ championship with seven points, five adrift of Williams in ninth on 12. The next race is the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend.
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