Aston ‘five seconds’ adrift as Honda concerns grow

Feb.16 (GMM) Aston Martin may be significantly further off the pace than first feared, as the scale of its 2026 struggles becomes clearer.

After Lance Stroll admitted the team was “four or four and a half” seconds down, ambassador Pedro de la Rosa confirmed the shortfall could indeed be measured in multiple seconds.

“We’re not happy. To be honest, nobody’s happy when you’re seconds slower than expected,” de la Rosa told media as the first Bahrain test concluded.

“But it’s also true that nobody’s worried. There’s a lack of grip and power. It’s the essence of motorsport, but there’s nothing wrong with the car that’s bothering the drivers.”

Pressed on the deficit, he added: “As Lance said, we’re three, four, or five seconds behind. But that’s not the most important thing right now.

“Yes, we need to get the car more efficient. But we’ve lost a lot of time and have to make up for it. The team knows what the problems are, and they’re already looking for a solution at the factory.”

There are even paddock whispers the car could be around 40 kilograms overweight – potentially double the excess believed to be carried by Williams.

German publication Auto Motor und Sport reports that team owner Lawrence Stroll, having invested heavily in facilities and secured Adrian Newey, delivered engineers a “serious dressing down” in Bahrain.

Spanish journalist Carlos Miquel believes the core issue lies not with Newey’s chassis but with Honda’s power unit.

“Aston Martin’s problem is the Honda engine, not Newey’s car,” he said. “It feels like while the others are running at 12,000 rpm, the Honda’s engine can’t go above 11,000 or it’ll fall apart.

“The Honda power unit is also the first to lose electrical power on the straights.”

The situation carries uncomfortable echoes of Honda’s troubled return with McLaren a decade ago – when Fernando Alonso famously labelled it a “GP2 engine”. Now the Spaniard finds himself again at the beginning of a Honda development cycle.

Shintaro Orihara, Honda F1’s general manager of track operations, sought to calm speculation in comments to Fuji TV.

“We haven’t yet tested it with aggressive cooling specifications to judge whether the cooling is severe enough,” he said.

“The priority right now is to get the car running normally, and the car is running with a certain number of vents open to allow some headroom. Next week we plan to test how high the temperature can get with the more aggressive cooling specifications.”

According to one reporter present, Orihara’s tone was calm and composed, with “no sense of tragedy at all”.

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