Fernando Alonso explains his radio because of the Honda engine: “We discovered it the hard way this weekend”

Fernando Alonso closed the F1 Singapore GP in 16th placea disappointing event due to the expectations that the driver and the team had on this circuit, theoretically, the most favorable for the car of the entire calendar due to the lack of long straights due to the low engine power Sling. However, it was a nightmare, with several problems in power delivery that affected him in the sprint race and in qualifying, and finally, a general poor performance of the engine in the Sunday race.

Alonso changed the turbo before the race and started from the pit lane, with no chance of scoring points on a street circuit where it is very difficult to overtake. And also, with a propellant that still does not perform as it should. And the engine change did not completely solve the delivery problems.

In the middle of the fight in the rear, Fernando Alonso made a radio communication that says it all about how much Honda has to improve. “Energy. This engine is so ridiculous,” He let out after some initial laughter full of irony when he saw how Hadjar removed the stickers while accelerating with his Red Bull.

Fernando Alonso explains his engine problems

And after the race, in statements to the international written press reported by ‘Motorsport.com’, Fernando explained himself.

“We have to solve the problems: drivability and turbo lag. There are a couple of things that are costing us a lot of lap time and we discovered it the hard way this weekend,” said the man from Oviedo.

“Last weekend in Sepang, we didn’t have any problems. Even in Baku, where the first two sectors were very winding and very slow, we didn’t have any problems”said Fernando Alonso, surprised by the appearance of this new setback in the Japanese engine.

He even claimed that after changing the turbo, the problems continued in the race. “I don’t know. I kept having a lot of problems in the race. I think less when it comes to the turbo, but there were a lot of problems with the deployment (of electric power)”.

“Especially after the virtual safety car, I don’t think the car knew where it was in the lap.because it activated the turbo in places where it did not need it and did not activate it on the straights. So that was a little frustrating,” he said about that failure, which should point to the software and the algorithm that decides how to deliver the power at each point.

“All the laps were difficult. In the first one I could have overtaken ‘Checo’ Pérez. In the end not only did I not overtake Checo, but I also lost position with Hadjar,” he said in relation to the moment in which he released his devastating message on the radio.

“When we were behind Checo or behind any other car, then we lost between 200 and 300 meters on each straight. So it was an impossible task,” he said. Overtaking is difficult in Singapore. But with the Honda engine, it was impossible. Honda will have to work hard so that all these setbacks are not repeated in a 2027 engine that Aston Martin and Alonso hope will take an important step forward compared to a 2026 engine that leaves a lot to be desired.

He thinks there was more potential in the car

“There is always something more to extract from the car if we could compete again. We had a bit of understeer in the race, which we couldn’t solve (they had it since FP1), and then, a lot of problematic energy deployments in the race by not deploying them in the right place and time, especially after the safety car. We lost a lot of places and a lot of ground with that lack of deployment, so it’s something we have to revisit,” said Fernando Alonso into the microphone of the official F1 television.