Honda accepts Alonso’s challenge: “It is an absolute priority for the next races”

Fernando Alonso rose from 18th to 9th place in the F1 Netherlands GP this Sundaya result that made two things very clear about the Spaniard’s car.

The first is that the step forward in aerodynamics that the AMR26 has taken is enormous. since the premiere of the package that arrived in Budapest and was completed this weekend with more pieces.

The car has a lot of downforce and was able to shine with its own light for its great care of the tiressomething key for Fernando Alonso to try a complicated strategy to a stop that went wonderfully.

That plan was key for Fernando to score points, as it allowed him to show off the good pace of the green car in clean air while his middle zone rivals stopped for the pits. With that chassis, Fernando was able to add more than 30 laps in his first run with soft rubber and finish the race with another 36 laps with the hard tire.

And the second issue is related to the engine. Honda is sure that the new engine that debuted in Zandvoort is a step forward in terms of power. However, The green car continues to have a large deficit on the straight compared to the rest. And for Honda to show the true potential of this engine and for Alonso to be able to attack with better weapons, The Japanese firm must focus on solving the initial driveability problems that this new engine has had, as they already did with the previous version.

What Honda must achieve is that the engine does exactly what the driver wants. On Friday, for example, Alonso blocked the brakes in the middle of sprint qualifying when he saw how his engine continued to accelerate while Fernando braked.

And after the race, Alonso acknowledged that Honda must correct the problems it had in Zandvoort with engine braking and gear shifting. That is something that Honda already did with its first engine as the races progressed, and after that previous experience, Fernando hopes that the Japanese will be able to solve those failures in the next races.

“We know there is still room”

For its part, Honda accepts the challenge. Shintaro Orihara, the Japanese rider’s track manager, admitted that they must prioritize that work.

“Firstly, the two new spec 2 engines completed the Dutch Grand Prix weekend without any major reliability issues. “We know there is still room to improve handling and this remains an absolute priority for the upcoming races.”said the Asian engineer in a Honda statement.

“Getting two points is a good result, especially considering the work that went into introducing the spec 2 engine this weekend. During the final phases of the race, we focused on trying to keep the distance from Gasly (who chased Alonso with younger tires and more speed on the straight) and we optimize our energy management strategy to help us achieve it. It is a good result and now we will focus on continuing to make improvements,” concluded Orihara.

Newey, message to the team

Fernando Alonso’s ninth position in the F1 Netherlands GP this Sunday is a boost for the morale of the entire Aston Martin team after so many difficult months spent at the back of the table. For this reason, Adrian Newey wanted to remember the factory employees, who saw their efforts in recent months rewarded with a great step forward with the new aerodynamic package designed by Adrian Newey, which already debuted with good marks in Hungary.

“The points achieved today are a very valuable reward for everyone’s efforts, and I want to thank the entire Silverstone team, who has worked very hard to improve our performance over the last few months,” said the Aston Martin Team Principal.

“After the red flag, we put Fernando on a new set of soft tires and, managing them well, he was able to complete almost half of the race on them. This allowed us to set up an effective one-stop strategy, which we considered our best chance of finishing in the points,” he said of Fernando’s race.

“It was only in the last laps when Fernando began to suffer pressure from Gasly, but we had enough pace to stay in ninth position and score two important points,” concluded the considered best designer in the history of F1.