Aston Martin have found THREE seconds in pace, but Honda think they can go even faster

Photo: © IMAGO

Aston Martin have found THREE seconds in pace, but Honda think they can go even faster

Exciting times for Alonso and Stroll

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson F1 Editor

Motorsport journalist covering F1 since 2024

Saturday 29 August 2026 09:14

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After a tough start to the year, Aston Martin have made remarkable progress in recent grands prix, but Honda believes that further lap time is possible.

A major overhaul of the AMR26 at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July made the team much more competitive right away, and after Honda delivered a new spec power unit at the Dutch Grand Prix last time out, Alonso finished P9 and scored two points - double the team's haul from the opening 11 rounds of the season.

And, as Alonso was quick to point out in Zandvoort, they have made up huge ground.

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“In Budapest we made it to Q2, and here we were just one-tenth away," Alonso said after qualifying on Saturday. "Plus, this is the smallest margin behind the Q1 leader. Piastri was 1.3 seconds [+1.040s] ahead of us. Before, we had an average gap of 4.5 seconds to the best, so we’ve improved by three seconds over two races. It’s encouraging.

"It's incredible; everything is working as planned. But it's a tough sport, and you always have to improve."

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Honda's plan to make Aston Martin even faster

Despite that progress, though, things didn't go down completely smoothly with Honda's new power unit in the Netherlands. After exiting sprint qualifying having finished last on Friday, Alonso complained of driveability issues.

“Things seemed to go okay for us in Free Practice, but then we experienced some driveability issues in Sprint Qualifying, and it was difficult to stop the car sometimes," Alonso explained.

A similar sentiment was shared by Stroll after Sunday's race: “On the chassis side, I think we're quite good. We made a big step in Budapest. The drivability and the power is the next thing we need to really work on.”

This is now the key area which Honda thinks it can improve and help Aston Martin go even quicker, according to chief engineer Shintaro Orihara.

Indeed, while a lot of talk around power units naturally focuses on horsepower, Honda may be able to improve Aston Martin's speed in other ways.

"We achieved our internal target from the dyno, and then we have confirmed the same improvement trackside," Orihara told The Race after the Dutch Grand Prix.

"We know that there is room to improve our driveability and this remains paramount for us looking ahead to the next races."

What does driveability actually mean?

In this context, driveability essentially means how easy and predictable the car feels to a driver when accelerating, braking and turning.

For example, when Alonso or Stroll get on the throttle, they want the power from the engine to be delivered as smoothly and predictably as possible so that they can accelerate out of a corner with confidence. Equally, when they brake heavily and turn into a corner, they need the car to slow down and remain stable without suddenly becoming difficult to control.

This isn't straightforward, though, particularly when introducing a new spec power unit in an era where the split between battery and combustion engine is pretty much 50-50, as Orihara outlines.

"If the driver lifts off the throttle, there is engine braking, but then the MGU-K is harvesting 350 kW so the operation point is almost double," he also told The Race.

"Then the MGU-K power is decreasing, and engine torque is also decreasing, but the driver demand is 0N. To achieve 0N it is very complicated.

"It is communication between the engine, combustion, and MGU-K control. That is one of the areas we need to improve, how we organise this combination."

Are Honda going to upgrade power unit further?

While getting on top of the driveability issues, Honda will also be working hard in the background on delivering further upgrades to their power unit under the additional development and upgrade opportunities (ADUO) system.

The FIA ruled that Honda's power unit is more than four per cent behind the benchmark (Red Bull-Ford), so the team technically have another upgrade opportunity this season, and two more in 2027.

However, Honda confirmed ahead of Zandvoort 'made maximum use of the development budget and bench-testing time made available through ADUO' and their next upgrade appears to be destined for next season.

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Simmey Hannifin Donaldson - F1 Editor

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F1 Aston Martin Fernando Alonso Lance Stroll Honda