Aston Martin face fresh Monaco test as Honda highlight critical weakness

The Japanese motorsport chief, speaking ahead of the race in the Principality, struck an overall upbeat tone about Aston Martin’s prospects. However, his optimism was tempered by concerns over specific issues he expects the Silverstone-based team to encounter at Monte Carlo.

Sharing his thoughts ahead of the weekend, Orihara noted how the nature of the circuit, before highlighting the dedicated preparations made by the team and Aston Martin to optimise its energy management at the street track.

“Circuit de Monaco is very unique, and our power units require dedicated preparation to adapt to the conditions. We have conducted specific driver-in-loop (DiL) sessions at the AMR Technology Campus to optimise our energy management setting,” he explained.

The Honda chief, however, noted what he dubs will be the biggest concern of the team at the Monte Carlo circuit, pointing out how the issue of cooling could be one that will plague the team in Monaco, particularly considering the traffic issues teams often face throughout the Monaco weekend.

“On the cooling side, Monaco’s slow-speed sections make this challenging. We need to find a good cooling specification, working closely with Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team to achieve this for the power unit in clean air and heavy traffic, which is common here,” he added.

Orihara, however, concluded by noting the importance of the Aston Martin outfit maximising the three practice sessions to optimise energy management and drivability, which he believes will be paramount to the team’s outing.

“This weekend we have three hours of practice, so it’s critical to optimise energy management and track usage throughout these. Gaining the drivers’ feedback during this will also be paramount, as energy management has a significant impact on drivability. Monaco has a lot of slow-speed corners, so it’s fundamental to maximise drivability to give them maximum confidence. We can find lap time from drivability here,” he concluded.

The Aston Martin team have largely endured a challenging start to the 2026 campaign, with the team dealing with several issues related to its Honda power unit, which has translated into intense vibration for the drivers.

Earlier, GPblog reported that the Aston Martin outfit will not introduce any significant updates to its 2026 challenger until at least after the summer break, when it expects the issue with its Honda power unit to be resolved.

The Silverstone outfit will instead focus on minor refinements and updates to its car, while it continues to work with Honda to find a fitting solution to its power unit woes.

Aston Martin Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack was asked in Montreal about the prospect of a revised car arriving only after the summer break. He confirmed that development work is ongoing, but stressed that changes at this stage will be highly targeted. “I think we can still make some steps, you know, in terms of drivability,” he said.

“I think it was you or one of your colleagues who asked me what kind of lap time gains we could achieve with that. But I don’t think we’re at the stage where we can say that if we introduce one or two upgrades, everything will suddenly be optimal. So I think there is still a lot of work to be done, and we will continue that over the next few weeks and months. We’re not there yet. I don’t think we are at the optimum with everything on the car we have at the moment,” he concluded.