Honda's Statement Amid Aston Martin's F1 Pre-Season Setback
Honda has issued a statement regarding Aston Martin's challenging F1 pre-season, which has been marred by a significant setback for Fernando Alonso.
The partnership between the Japanese automotive giant and the Silverstone-based team is still in its infancy, but the initial stages have not been smooth. Despite completing only 268 laps during the Barcelona shakedown and the first Bahrain test, the team's testing plans took a severe hit on Thursday when Alonso's race simulation came to an abrupt halt.
With three and a half hours remaining in Alonso's scheduled run, the two-time world champion's car suddenly stopped at Turn 4 due to a failure, causing the engine to rev excessively. The team had to resort to using marigold protective gloves for the trackside marshals to retrieve the stranded vehicle, preventing Alonso from returning to the track.
As a result, Alonso has managed to complete a mere 255 laps in total, a stark contrast to Max Verstappen's 137 laps on Day 2 of the second test. Honda's statement confirms that Friday's testing would be severely limited, consisting only of short stints.
'Our last run with Fernando Alonso yesterday encountered a battery-related issue that disrupted our test plan with the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team,' the statement read.
'Since then, we have been conducting simulations on the test bench at HRC Sakura. Due to this issue and a shortage of power unit parts, we have adjusted today's run plan to be highly restricted, focusing on short stints.'
