One problem leads to another
There seems to be no limit to the worst in this start of the season for the Aston Martin team. As if all the troubles the Silverstone team is facing at the power unit level – with the delays and reliability shortcomings that Honda is experiencing – were not enough, an embarrassing communication difficulty in pit stops emerged in Melbourne, which led Fernando Alonso to be the victim of a particularly slow pit stop in the little race the Asturian was able to compete in during the season’s opening GP.
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What a mess in the pits
The episode had gone unnoticed in the days immediately following the race, overshadowed by news of greater magnitude, but the images are emblematic: at the moment Alonso stops in the pit box, the rear left tire is missing, which only arrives later carried by a mechanic while the other new tires have already been fitted. All this while Lance Stroll’s other AMR26 is arriving behind Alonso, and in fact finds himself forced to wait ‘in line’ for a few seconds.
🤦♂️ Aston Martin forgets Alonso’s left rear tire in the garage while doing a double pit stop in Melbourne.pic.twitter.com/yRwjJS8QD8
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— Formula Türkiye 🇹🇷 (@FormulaTurkiye) March 11, 2026
This chaotic situation was commented on by the former team principal of the team – and today chief trackside officer – Mike Krack, who explained the mess with communication problems at the pit wall. “The pit stop on lap 11 was a disaster – Krack admitted speaking with journalists present in Australia – it wasn’t a disaster from the garage’s point of view, but from our point of view on the pit wall. Basically communications were not crossed correctly. There are so many channels and sometimes things go wrong. One of the things we have to recognize is that we haven’t done much practice in this regard and it was the first time [we did it] live, in reality, and it didn’t go well. It’s something we have to work on in the future“. Certainly not the only one in which Aston Martin is struggling at the moment.
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