Honda Speaks
“We are stuck at square zero due to Honda’s problems, we had Honda problems in FP1 and Honda problems in FP2. We arrived at this race with completely new parts, a new package to test, but today we couldn’t do enough laps.” Fernando Alonso did not hide his disappointment at the end of the Melbourne Friday, which concluded five seconds off the top of the standings.
Read more The rumor: if Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are cancelled, the world championship will be 22 GPs
The Aston Martin driver emphasized that it is disappointing to be short on spare parts (specifically batteries) when the British team is the only one supplied by Honda. Adrian Newey revealed that the available batteries, which were four at the start of the weekend, are now only two, and therefore there are several questions about the presence of the two AMR26s on the grid on Sunday.
Read more Dacia Striker, new crossover nearing debut
Shintaro Orihara, head of Honda engineers, commented on today’s session, highlighting that some faint light at the end of the tunnel seems to be starting to appear: “Today’s FP2 was valuable for us because we were able to see the effects of our countermeasures. With Lance and Fernando completing a total of 31 laps, we managed to gather the necessary data to determine that the elements we implemented for the first time on the dynamic test bench in Sakura work on track. Consequently, according to the analysis gathered during the session, fewer battery vibrations are occurring. The day started with the identification of a problem with the power unit of Fernando’s car. We tried to resolve it before the start of FP1, but unfortunately, we were unable to complete the work in time. We also had a problem with Lance’s power unit and decided to return to the pits to investigate, so that we could make the necessary changes for FP2.”
