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Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin and Honda need more work to optimise the Japanese manufacturer’s more powerful Spec 2 V6 power unit after both drivers struggled with its behaviour during sprint qualifying at Zandvoort.
Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll were given Honda’s second engine specification at the Dutch Grand Prix, the manufacturer’s planned in-season upgrade for this year. The unit had already been shaken down during a filming day after the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July, but its first competitive running exposed fresh driveability problems.
The result was a major setback for Aston Martin. Alonso went off at Turn 1 in SQ1 after reporting heavy engine vibrations and qualified 22nd and last, three seconds off the pace. Stroll finished 19th, ahead of both Cadillac cars but still well away from the midfield.
The difficult session followed the team’s substantial Hungary upgrade, which had moved Aston Martin back towards the centre of the field. The contrast made Friday’s performance particularly striking, although the problem appears to have been linked to the interaction between the new power unit and the car rather than a straightforward loss of overall performance.
Alonso said the engine’s behaviour was most problematic under braking, where the power delivery made the car difficult to control.
“Free practice was more or less okay but in qualifying we had problems on the engine,” Alonso reported. “Driveability was pushing on the braking, so it was difficult to stop the car sometimes because the engine was over-delivering.”
He also said the SLM mode, the lower-drag setting on the 2026 car, did not work for him, preventing him from opening the rear wing. The combination of the engine’s power delivery and the rear-wing issue made qualifying laps especially difficult.
“When you brake and the throttle is open, it’s difficult to stop the car,” Alonso added.
Stroll described a similar experience, pointing to driveability and other unresolved issues. “We were struggling with the driveability, and there were a few other things that weren’t quite right, so we need to understand why,” he said.
The team planned to review the data overnight before the sprint. The wider Honda Spec 2 power-unit changes had been presented as a source of renewed hope, but Friday showed that extracting its performance would require further calibration.
Honda F1 project leader Shintaro Orihara had already warned that the upgrade would force the manufacturer to revisit much of its driveability work. The new combustion characteristics, he explained, would change engine behaviour through corners and require the optimisation process to begin again.
For Aston Martin, the immediate priority is therefore not simply unlocking extra power. It is making that power predictable enough for the drivers to brake, rotate and accelerate with confidence.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.