Honda sound alarm over recurring Aston Martin failure

Honda have admitted that the reason for Lance Stroll's retirement from last weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix was an issue that they have seen before.

Stroll pulled over to retire his Aston Martin after 30 laps with another power unit issue in Sao Paulo, his 13th retirement of the season and the 14th time he failed to complete enough laps to be a classified finisher.

Honda's Shintaro Orihara said after the race that the power unit supplier are aware of what the problem was on the Canadian's car, but not the root cause of the issue – with a thorough investigation set to take place before the next race in Las Vegas.

This season has been a disastrous first year of the Honda/Aston Martin partnership, starting so badly that the team's drivers couldn't complete more than 25 laps without risking nerve damage due to the severity of the vibrations in the car.

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Honda: Brazil was good, until it wasn't

That issue has since been resolved, but the general lack of pace and reliability have not – with the Adrian Newey-led team scuffling around the bottom of the standings all year.

New issues have popped up as the season has gone along, including whatever it was which caused Stroll's retirement at Interlagos.

“The race began well from a power unit perspective until we suffered an ERS issue on Lance’s car on Lap 30," Orihara said after the race. "From the data, we suspect it’s the same problem as yesterday and we need to find the root cause of this before the next race.

“Fernando’s eighth place on the grid is our highest starting position of the year with Aston Martin and that is encouraging. In the mixed weather conditions during the race, we kept adapting the power unit settings well to the wet and the dry running.

“The overall result today is better considering the tough outcome we had at the last event. The work will now continue in the UK and Japan to prepare for Las Vegas Grand Prix.”

Alonso makes bold Mercedes claim after Brazilian Grand Prix

Alonso seemed split after the race, which he finished in 12th place after some battles with both Ferrari drivers, praising the Newey-designed car while pointing out just how much the engine performance continues to harm the team.

"It was probably the best race for the car feeling today," he said. "The car was phenomenal on the corners and we were battling with the Ferraris at one point, and even in the last five laps on the inters we were in the mix with the two Mercedes.

"One lap down, but we were in the mix with the Mercedes [in terms of pace]. Taking into account how much we lose on the straight, that means that probably today we could have been one second faster than them per lap.

"So, as I said, the car was phenomenal."

He brushed off suggestions that he might've enjoyed the weekend more than any other this year though, saying: "No, I don't enjoy. I come, I do my job. There is no fun to drive with different tools. So, working hard to next year to close the gap and be a little bit more in a competitive environment."

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