Honda chief trackside engineer Shintaro Orihara has said it has identified a specific issue to be resolved for its Formula 1 power unit, as Aston Martin has set an ambitious target for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The Japanese marque enters its home Grand Prix under a cloud, with its troublesome PU contributing to two double-DNFs for the Silverstone-based squad.
As well as its batteries causing both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll signficant hand numbness through its vibrations in the car, the major element has been in short supply.
At the Chinese GP two weeks ago, Stroll’s race was curtailed by a mechanical failure on Lap 9, with Alonso retiring 26 laps later due to the vibrations.
Speaking alongside Aston’s Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack, Orihara told media including Motorsport Week that the reason for Stroll’s retirement has been discovered.
“We found the root cause of the issue, and we applied some countermeasures for this event,” he said.
“We can’t improve, we can’t change the specification for performance, but we gathered a lot of data from China, and we analysed that data and implemented our simulation to improve our energy management strategy for this event.
“I can’t explain the theory point, but we have found the issue. We did some analysis in Sakura, and we fully understand what happened, and we applied countermeasures.”
Orihara added that Honda is now “confident” in terms of its battery numbers, something that was partly responsible for Alonso’s running on the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain being truncated.
![Honda trackside chief Shintaro Orihara [left] has identified an issue with the engine that prevented one of its Aston Martin cars from finishing in Shanghai](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Shintaro-Orihara-Honda-Aston-Martin-1024x576.webp)
Aston Martin sets objective – ‘finish with both cars’
Krack followed up by revealing that both Aston and Honda have implemented “different measures” to ensure the AMR26, designed by Team Principal Adrian Newey, can be given a fairer crack at showing its worth.
“We have worked together on different measures for mitigating both the hardware and also the driver’s side,” he said.
“So there are steps in place that obviously we need to test here and then see how we continue.”
Krack also stated that, building on the smattering of improvements made in China from Australia, it is now aiming to get both Alonso and Stroll to the chequered flag.
“I think we made a small step in that direction in China, but it was not good enough,” he said. “So the objective has to be to finish with both cars.”
The race in Suzuka gives Aston a chance to shut out the external noise around Newey’s supposed reshuffle, as it reportedly eyes Jonathan Wheatley to assume duties on the pit wall, the Briton having now left Audi.
For Honda, there is a sense of pride at stake, as it looks to show its hard work can reap rewards in front of a partisan crowd.
READ MORE – Honda delivers telling update as Aston Martin woes continue
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