Aston Martin and Honda arrive at the Miami GP more confident after weeks of work in Japan to resolve the power unit vibrations that have been affecting the 2026 Formula 1 season. According to the teams, there have been “good progress” in the search for solutions.
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During the five-week break in the calendar, caused by the cancellation of the Middle East rounds due to the conflict between the USA and Iran, the car was taken to Sakura. There, engineers conducted static and dynamometer tests to analyze the problem. Honda’s General Track Manager, Shintaro Orihara, explained: “So, as Mike mentioned, we brought the race car to Sakura, then did some static tests to measure the vibration of the real car. Then, we applied some countermeasures to the car and checked the vibration situation in the vehicle.
“Additionally, we collected a lot of data from the car because, at the factory, we can put many sensors and also gathered all the knowledge from the HRC engineers. And then we found good progress in the vibrations. We introduced the countermeasure for this round. So, we found good progress in the vibration on the motor battery side, and we can also see good progress in the vibration for the driver. We are interested to see how this will work on the track here.”
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Aston Martin’s Track Operations Director, Mike Krack, highlighted that the period was essential: “We had a few weeks due to the cancellation of the two Middle East rounds and used the time together with Honda to make additional improvements to our package. We left a car in Sakura after the race in Japan to continue working on the problems we have and I think we arrived here with another package of countermeasures to improve our reliability, to improve the package overall. So, the collaboration has been very good in recent weeks.”
So far, the vibrations — especially in the Honda motor battery — have limited the team, which has completed only one full race, with Fernando Alonso finishing 18th in Suzuka. Aston Martin is last in the Constructors’ Championship, a scenario already predicted by Adrian Newey, who warned about possible “permanent nerve damage” to drivers, including Lance Stroll. With the new countermeasures, improvement is expected already in Miami.
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