(Motorsport-Total.com) – Aston Martin remains the problem child of Formula 1: Even at the Chinese Grand Prix (race result), neither Fernando Alonso nor Lance Stroll saw the checkered flag, although the team had previously been confident and had even announced that they wanted to finish the race.
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But the biggest problem remains the strong vibrations of the Honda engine, which even led to physical discomfort for Alonso in Shanghai. “It’s difficult,” Trackside Engineering Officer Mike Krack admits once again in China. “Of course, everyone is working flat out on it.”
And even if it doesn’t look like it from the outside, Honda and Aston Martin can already report the first signs of progress. “Ten days ago we were talking about six laps,” Krack recalls of the season opener in Australia just over a week ago, when the difficulties were significantly greater.
“And then we found solutions to the problem, especially for the most stressed point, the battery.” And before the next race in Japan, there is a bit more time to work on the current problems with the Honda power unit.
Mike Krack does not want to give a final schedule
“I’m pretty sure we will achieve further improvements,” Krack says confidently, without wanting to make a promise as to when a solution for the current vibrations will be found. “Giving a final schedule of exactly when is very hard to say.”
Before the weekend in China, Honda had already announced that it would bring initial improvements. “We had some additional countermeasures here compared to Melbourne,” the Aston Martin official also confirms, but at the same time emphasizes that “work continues in all areas.”
Krack is holding back on specific details about how well the optimizations worked. The Luxembourg native only confirms that they had “no other problems,” apart from Alonso ending the race prematurely. “But we didn’t have any parts falling off or anything like that, which can also happen.”
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Nevertheless, the work must continue. “We have to increase the reliability of the entire package, and then we also have to work on performance,” emphasizes the former Aston Martin team principal, who reveals: The vibrations only affect reliability, not performance.
Alonso confirms: We can fully charge the battery
Alonso himself dismisses the current rumors that the Honda engine does not have enough power to charge the battery in one lap. That is “not the case” and “for us it is not a problem to fully charge it,” the Spaniard emphasizes.
The 44-year-old also reveals that while they cannot use the full potential of the power unit, they can use the full potential of the chassis. Nevertheless, Aston Martin was still several seconds behind in qualifying in China. (ADVERTISEMENT: The complete premier class of motorsport live on Sky)
“We obviously need to improve in several areas, but it’s nothing that costs us seconds,” Krack suggests that even without the Honda problems, Aston Martin would probably not be competitive at the moment. “You might be a bit more conservative with certain settings, but it doesn’t cost much performance.”
A big hope for Honda could be the so-called ADUO system (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities). Manufacturers who are still behind with regard to the power unit are to receive additional development opportunities.
“Of course, it’s clear that the sooner we can make improvements, the better,” Krack says, but then adds: “To be honest, I wasn’t involved in those discussions, so they are on a different level.”
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