The Silverstone-based team endured a troubled start to the 2026 season at Melbourne’s Albert Park, where vibration issues linked to the Honda power unit and a lack of spare batteries severely limited mileage for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
With only a handful of days between races, little appears to have changed heading into the Chinese Grand Prix.
Speaking in Thursday’s press conference in Shanghai, Alonso admitted the team is still dealing with the same problems that overshadowed the opening round.
“The situation unfortunately didn’t change within four or five days since Melbourne, so it will be a difficult weekend,” he said.
“We’ll limit the laps in one or two sessions as we are short on parts.”
Alonso retired from the Australian Grand Prix, while Stroll reached the finish several laps down after a compromised race for the team.
Buy tickets
Battery availability has remained one of the biggest talking points around Aston Martin’s garage.
Problems during the Melbourne weekend left the team without spare units after two of the four available batteries were taken out of action.
Heading into Shanghai, the team has declined to confirm whether additional units have been repaired or brought to the circuit, with chief trackside officer Mike Krack shutting down repeated questions when speaking to media ahead of the race weekend.
“What is the point if we go on about the number of batteries?” he said.
“I don’t think that this is something that we should try to insist on, insist on, and insist on.
“We have a situation that was disclosed in Melbourne, and I don’t think that we should continue on this battery number discussion.”
Despite the reluctance to discuss details publicly, Stroll suggested the situation remains delicate.
“I think it’s very fragile the situation with the batteries,” the Canadian said.
“Probably someone knows the answer to that better than me.”
‘Electrocute yourself’: Aston Martin drivers detail Honda horror
Honda is attempting to recover some of the damaged units from Melbourne to improve the team’s stock, although it has also declined to reveal exact numbers.
Trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara confirmed repair work is ongoing.
“So we can’t say the exact number, but we keep trying to repair the battery to get more spares,” he said.
“We saw some good progress in terms of repairing. I can’t say any detail point, but we are keeping working hard to repair the battery.
“So maybe we can repair battery, because that battery issue is not relating to vibration, just small things inside the battery.”
Alongside the supply concerns, Aston Martin is continuing to work through the vibration problems that have plagued the early running of the AMR26.
Honda believes it has made progress since Melbourne and is evaluating further countermeasures as it searches for a longer-term solution.
“We have found some progress on the vibration situation, and then still we keep working hard to reduce vibration,” Orihara said.
“We found something, another countermeasure, so maybe we can try something.”
The process of solving the issue appears gradual. Honda initially focused on reducing vibration affecting the battery, with work on the car’s own vibration characteristics expected to follow.
“In the last event, we just focused to reduce the battery vibration,” Orihara said.
“So in that way, we haven’t applied any countermeasure for car vibration.
“That is the next step after we fix the battery vibration. But we keep trying to understand where the vibration is coming from.”
For Alonso, the immediate priority is getting enough laps to better understand the AMR26 under the new 2026 regulations.
“We need laps, to find the window on the chassis side,” he said.
“I’ll be happy if we leave China with a more or less normal practice, more or less normal Quali.”
The two-time world champion said the team is focused on supporting Honda as it works through the early setbacks.
“What can I do within the team? Work harder, help Honda as much as I can,” he added.
“We can allocate resources, to help Honda with the power unit. We are one team, it is a bumpy start that I hope won’t last too long.”
Even if reliability begins to stabilise in the coming races, Alonso acknowledged performance may still take time to recover.
“Difficult to guess,” he said when asked about the timeframe for improvement.
“We are pushing, we have very talented people in the team, so I hope within a couple of Grands Prix, we can have a normal weekend.
“To be competitive will take more time. Once we fix the reliability, we will be behind on power and things.”
2026 F1 Chinese Grand Prix – Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more
Discussion about this post