New setback for Aston Martin and Alonso, but Honda cleans its hands: “We changed the turbo because of what Fernando said”

The hopes placed on the Singapore GP by Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso contrasted with the harsh reality. After the step forward at Sepang, those from Silverstone wanted to take advantage of the Marina Bay circuit, where the engine is not as important and the chassis plays a more key role, to continue the streak. However, the performance was not as desired and those in green ended the triplet with a bad taste in their mouths.

Lance Stroll could not finish the race and Fernando Alonso finished a world away from the points, in 16th. The Asturian was at least able to finish both races, but at most he was able to fight with the Cadillacs, Albon and Hadjar at the start of the races. Afterwards there was no more. At Aston Martin they admitted that the final result was a disappointment.

“Maybe heExpectations in Singapore were too high for what we did in Malaysia. Although if they tell me that we are going to add four points in this triplet, I sign them. I thought they would have arrived in Singapore, but they came in Malaysia,” said Mike Krack, head of performance for the British, in statements reported by newspaper As.

“Singapore is a track similar to Budapest and Zandvoort. In Budapest one car entered Q2 and in Zandvoort, none. This is the reality in this type of circuit, although I admit that I expected to have at least one car in Q2. We could have gone a little better, but much higher would not be realistic. We have to see where we left off some performance, because on this circuit there are fewer straights and we were not much faster.”

The great burden of the AMR26 continues to be the Honda engine. Alonso complained vehemently on the radio about the lack of power that prevented him from competing on equal terms. Furthermore, it is worth remembering that the Spaniard started the race on Sunday due to having to change parts of his power unit. However, the Japanese manufacturer assured that nothing was broken and that they only acted at the Asturian’s request.

“The turbo was not broken, we decided to change it based on Fernando’s comments. We haven’t found any big problems in the data yet. But the pilot is the best sensor so we decided to replace it. We have data from the track and from the previous days with the other components so we will review it at the factory,” he explained. Shintaro Orihara, boss of the Japanese.

“In Singapore the power sensitivity is low. The difference is smaller but there is still a difference between our position and the strongest rivals. Furthermore, a difficult point of these rules on a circuit like this, without energy limitations, is that in the corners the energy recharge is different. We have to make adjustments in drivability and boost, so the difference in performance does not only come from engine powerbut about energy management and manageability,” Orihara concluded.