Honda insisted nothing was wrong with of Fernando Alonso, despite it suffering an unknown issue during the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix that forced him to retire from the race.
The Spanish driver had been battling Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas when his car, fitted with a new Honda power unit for Baku, suffered a loss of straight-line speed. The issue has yet to be explained by Honda or Aston Martin.
It marked a weekend to forget for the team, with Lance Stroll having retired a few laps earlier due to a suspected water pressure issue.
Alonso told media after the race: “In the end, we had to stop. We suspect an engine problem. We had a lack of speed on the straight; it was anomalous, and we have to study it to see why.”
Alonso went on to assert that the car had given no indication of any issue; however, he did acknowledge earlier in the weekend that Aston Martin was still suffering significant deficits on the straights compared with other teams despite the upgraded power unit.
“I didn’t see any alarm,” Alonso said. “Everything was working fine, but I started losing a lot on the straight, like 1.5 seconds. So it was, as I said, something anomalous.”
Honda defends “healthy” Alonso engine
While Alonso’s team suspected a power unit issue was the reason behind his retirement, Honda’s trackside general manager and chief engineer, Shintaro Orihara, argued that there had been no sign of trouble.
“In the data we have now, we have checked all the data; the engine is okay,” Orihara said.
“We haven’t found any issues in the data, but we will check carefully during the maintenance work, and also check the data back at the factory, and they will also check carefully.
“So, at the moment, we don’t have any issues, but we will check carefully… the engine power, energy management, and maybe GPS waste.”
Honda and Alonso’s accounts being at odds with one another comes amid a contentious period for the power unit provider. With Aston Martin completing its final chassis upgrade at Baku, the weekend would have proved a strong indicator for how well the team’s partnership with Honda is faring. This upgrade comes as part of a wider weight-saving programme in an attempt to greatly reduce lap times – but this would also depend on Honda’s power unit delivering in the same way.
Such a poor performance in Azerbaijan will undoubtedly force Aston Martin to reconsider their current agreement.
“We introduced the new engine, then in FP2, we found some irregular signals in our oil system,” Orihara explained.
“Because of the new engine, we decided not to carry out [the run plan] to protect the new engine. We did an inspection after the session, and we found the root cause, and we replaced the part.
“Then, during FP3, qualifying and the race, we haven’t seen any issues with the engine. So I believe the new engine is healthy, and that we can use the engine for the rest of the season.”
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