Aston Martin continues trying to overcome a difficult start to the Formula 1 season alongside Honda. The team has started to show gradual progress over the last races, managing to finish a race with both cars for the first time in Miami. Before the Canadian GP, Honda’s chief track engineer, Shintaro Orihana, stated that the focus in Montreal will be to improve Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll’s confidence in the car:
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“At the Miami GP, we confirmed improvements in battery vibration and the overall reliability of the power unit. It was also a key opportunity to learn about energy management under the new 2026 regulations, and this will continue in Canada,” he said. According to Orihana, the team wants to improve drivability and energy management to help the drivers carry more speed through the corners.
After the race in Miami, Alonso also explained the team’s strategy: “The team explained to me that if we bring one or two tenths per race, it doesn’t change our position: we remain P20 or P19, and the next car is a second ahead. So, even if we bring two tenths per race, our position doesn’t change, and that creates enormous stress on the system, the budget cap, and things like that. Until we have an improvement of one and a half or two seconds, it’s better not to press the production button, because we waste money.”
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Aston Martin can still gain an important advantage in development. If Honda is more than 2% behind the competition, the manufacturer may receive at least 70 extra development hours through Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO), whose first checkpoint will take place after the Canadian GP.
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