FORMULA 1 F1 CALENDAR 2026 LEWIS HAMILTON MOTOGP RUMOURS

Alonso offers grim Chinese GP update as Aston Martin's woes to continue

Photo: Race Pictures

06:34, 12 Mar

byHenry Eccles

Fernando Alonso has said he is set for "another difficult weekend" with Aston Martin unable to make many improvements prior to the Chinese GP following their dire start to the season in Melbourne.

Team Principal Adrian Newey kicked off the Melbourne weekend by revealing the Aston drivers were unable to complete the Grand Prix without risking 'permanent nerve damage,' and while the 64 laps completed overall would have provided useful data, Alonso was sure another tough race is in store.

Alonso said he thought rivals were "10 times ahead" of Aston Martin and that a positive weekend in China would be accumulating as many laps as possible.

Another difficult weekend ahead, says Alonso

Photo: Race Pictures

Speaking to the media, including GPblog, Alonso was asked on the team's prospects on China.

"Yeah, not really different, I would say. The situation, fortunately, didn't change within four or five days since Melbourne, so yeah, I think it's going to be another difficult weekend and trying to understand as much as possible on the car and, you know, eventually limit the laps, you know, in a couple of the sessions, because we are short on parts and yeah, try to get something positive out of the weekend."

"We really need the laps. We really need to be able to practice and to find the window on the car, on the chassis side. and that will obviously be very important for the weekend.

"I will be happy if we leave China with a more or less normal free practice, more or less normal qualy, accumulating laps and probably attempting to do the full race on Sunday if we are allowed.

Alonso was also asked how long he thinks it will take before Aston Martin can have a 'normal weekend' in 2026.

"Difficult to guess. I don't know really. You know, we still have too many issues and too many unknown issues that they are coming day after day from nowhere. So, it seems that we are not on top of the problems yet.

And that's why it's difficult to guess. But we are pushing. We have very high professionals and talented people in the team.

"So I hope by a couple of Grands Prix, we can have a normal weekend. At least in terms of doing laps and completing the sessions, then to be competitive, I think that will take more time, to be honest, because once we fix the reliability, then we will be behind in terms of competition.

"So, you know, there are two steps, let's say, and hopefully the first step will come soon."

Honda have bad news for Alonso and Stroll in Aston Martin 'vibration' update

The bad news keeps coming for Alonso, as Honda revealed the vibrations in the car are set to remain an issue in China.

When asked by GPblog on the status of the AMR26, Orihara revealed there hasn't been "any countermeasures" on the vibrations in the car.

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