Not even Aston Martin can explain Alonso’s jump in Sepang: “It’s something we need to understand”
Fernando Alonso had one of the best races of the season this weekend in Sepang. The chaos of the rain and the poor choice of tires left him in 18th position in the first laps. However, the Spaniard had one of the best races of the year to climb back to eighth position.
The truth is that the Aston Martin took a leap in quality that few expected. The long straights of the Malaysian circuit tested Honda, but the AMR26’s performance was important compared to previous weekends. For example, Lance Stroll finished 12th, his best result by far in 2026. Therefore, the Silverstone team was surprised.
“I think we have a certain understanding. But I wouldn’t say we have a clear way of knowing where we are. compared to the rest of the teams. Because, as I said last week, it is always a relative comparison. We were also surprised by our and others’ performance in some areas. That’s something we need to understand. But we know what we have changed in our car in recent weekends and how much each thing contributes to us,” said Mike Krack, track boss of the British, in statements reported by Motorsport.com.
“So, I think we need to understand if the performance improvement comes from others, from us, or if it’s probably the case of both things together,” he concluded.
Honda sees the light at the end of the tunnel
Despite racing on a circuit with two very long straights, Aston Martin was able to compete against other teams that are normally in the middle of the grid. For example, Audi or Racing Bulls. Therefore, Honda was satisfied with how its power unit performed.
“The interesting thing is that, in rainy conditions, we did not lack energy. The recharge level of the MGU-K was different from any other circuit in that we had an abundance of energy. We can take that learning to Singaporewhere there might also be enough battery. I think our maneuverability is improving and we will try to adjust it to Singapore,” explained Shintaro Orihara, head of the Japanese, in statements reported by newspaper As.
“Monza, Madrid and Baku were very tough races for Honda. Turbo updated and we continue to work very hard to improve our benefits. They’re not huge gains, but we’re still trying to improve. “It’s a good result because we are working hard, although the disadvantage is still quite big,” said the Japanese.
