Endless crisis
The ordeal of this start of the season continues Honda. The Japanese engineer, who this year collaborates exclusively with the Aston Martin team, is undoubtedly the main loser of these first races. Neither in Australia nor in China did either of the two green single-seaters manage to cross the finish line and it is undeniable that the main – if not exclusive – responsibility lies with Japanese power units.
Yet, quite incredibly, in the post-race comment released to the media by HRC’s chief engineer Shintaro Orihara a relatively positive reading of this weekend almost seems to emerge. Of course, some improvements have been seen, but it is acceptable that a driver (Alonso in this case) is forced to withdraw from the race because “the vibrations made me lose sensation in my hands and feet“.
“We cannot be satisfied with the double retirement in today’s Chinese Grand Prix – declared Orihara – however, if we focus on the more positive aspects, we have covered more kilometers than in Melbourne, which is encouraging. We also improved reliability throughout the sprint race weekend, but this is still not enough to complete the full race distance. We have improved vibrations at the systems level – the Japanese manager then added, and we would have to ask what Alonso thinks about it – but this remains a problem for the comfort of the pilot. This is a fundamental aspect to address in view of the next race in Japan. Regarding Lance’s retirement, we are currently investigating the root cause and will continue to work with HRC Sakura, together with Aston Martin, to understand what happened on lap nine. The 2026 regulations are far from simple, as evidenced by today’s number of withdrawals and non-starts. We know this is no excuse for our reliability and performance, and we will strive to improve. We still have a lot of work to do, and that is our priority right now”.
