Honda has delivered an update on the cause of the mystery engine “problem” for Fernando Alonso in Baku ahead of this weekend’s Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Aston Martin and Honda’s trials and tribulations in 2026 continued unabated in Baku, with Alonso retiring after reporting a yet another power unit issue during the race.
Honda had hoped for improvement with its Spec II engine introduced in Zandvoort, but car performance remains low and unpredictable race by race.
Following the Baku retirement, Honda analysed the issue, as it initially disagreed with its start driver.
Ahead of this weekend’s action in Sepang, F1 Trackside Manager Shintaro Orihara provided an update that did not shed any further light on the situation.
“Still on the data there is no indication of the engine problem,” he said to media, including Motorsport Week.
“But you know, the driver is the best sensor and Fernando has a lot of experience.”
Honda coy on weekend prospects
Asked if they had further improvements for Sepang and how it expects to perform at Sepang’s long straights, Orihara was once again coy.
“It’s not big improvement from calibration,” he said. “But we keep working to find some small performance gain.”
“It is quite difficult to predict energy management.”
“In FP1 and FP2, it is very important for us to see how our energy management works at the track.”#
“We must also not forget that our competitors are not standing still either.”
Rain is widely predicted to affect both qualifying and the race, with torrential downpours expected on race day in particular.
Orihara hinted that should the rain intensity be as intense as expected, it is likely that racing action may be curbed.
“We love to race in the rain. We should not forget that we did not have a single rain session this year.”
“If it is like yesterday, I do not think there will be much racing.”
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