Shintaro Orihara, Honda boss: “In the middle of the season, our reliability was better. In the last three races we have had similar problems. We do not know the original cause of the failure in Brazil”

Fernando Alonso He was one of the great protagonists of the career of Brazilespecially when the rain made an appearance and left more prominence for the driver’s hands and not so much for the car’s potential. And it is that he Aston Martin It still has a big burden compared to the competition: its Honda engine.

The Asturian managed to overtake rivals of the stature of Lewis Hamilton with extraordinary maneuvers, but, as the Interlagos track dried, the performance of the AMR26 left him without weapons to fight. For this reason, it was difficult for him to pass Albon with the Williams. In the end Alonso was left without scoring and in Honda admitted to having taken a step back in the last races. In fact, Stroll abandoned due to battery failures.

“Mid-season, our reliability was better. In the last three races we have had similar problems that are not related to mileage or demands on components. Especially when it comes to batteries. We know What problem has there been in Stroll’s car but we don’t know the original causeso first we have to understand that,” explained Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s chief engineer, after the meeting in Interlagos in statements reported by the newspaper AS.

“Rainy conditions hide our weaknesses in terms of engine performance and power. But drivability becomes more important and we still have to improve. There is room for improvement for the next races and especially next year,” concluded the Japanese.

At Aston Martin they are more optimistic

For his part, Mike KrackAston Martin’s track boss, was a little more optimistic in his assessment. The Luxembourger regretted not taking points, but he did see an improvement in race performance compared to other Grands Prix.

“The conditions were difficult and the competitiveness was somewhat better, especially in the race. It was a good performance considering how the season has been.. Unfortunately we didn’t score points, which is what we took away from the weekend, although we were ahead of competitors who are faster. Anyway, In the last triplet of races we have had five retirements out of six possible results, so it is something we have to work on“, Krack assessed to finish the triplet.