Alonso: Aston Martin is doing everything it can to support Honda

Aston Martin and Honda unite behind recovery plan

Fernando Alonso has underlined Aston Martin’s commitment to helping Honda overcome its early power-unit difficulties, insisting the partnership is working as one as the project develops.

That improvement offered a welcome sign of progress after a difficult opening phase of the campaign. However, Aston Martin’s own struggles with the AMR26 have been matched by setbacks for Honda, leaving both sides with performance challenges to address. The manufacturer is now preparing an upgraded engine for the upcoming Dutch Grand Prix, with its first on-track running scheduled for a filming day.

Chassis and software support Honda’s development

Alonso stressed that Honda is not being left to solve its problems alone. Instead, Aston Martin is attempting to support its engine partner through work on the car and on the consistency of power delivery from lap to lap.

“We are one team, we work together,” Alonso told media. “We know our weakness, and we try to help each other. I think Honda was trying to help some of the weaknesses of the car at the beginning of the year.”

The relationship has now developed into a two-way effort. With the chassis, Aston Martin is trying to help Honda as much as possible, including in the area of deployment consistency. Alonso also pointed to the team’s software department as an important part of that support.

“Now with the chassis, we try to help Honda as much as we can, and also with the consistency from lap to lap on deployment,” he said. “I think [there is] a lot of help from Aston Martin as well in that regard, on that software department.”

Trust is central to the next phase

Alonso cautioned that the collaboration still has a long way to go, but described the upcoming upgrade as a potential first step. For him, the most important factor in the next few months will be the confidence and trust being built between the two factories.

“Both factories are gaining confidence and trust in what they do. So that probably will be more important than anything else for the next few months,” Alonso added.