Fernando Alonso sees things with different perspective and maturity when comparing his time with Honda back in 2015 to 2026, when asked at the F1 Chinese GP.
It was a bitter end between Alonso and Honda F1 back in 2017 when McLaren decided to end terms with the Japanese manufacturer after a three-year stint. The V6 Hybrid project never took off, which forced the decision to split in a highly volatile environment.
Bitter between Alonso and Honda
While McLaren opted for Renault, Honda joined hands with Red Bull F1 family, which ultimately led to two constructors’ championship and three drivers’ title. The relationship between Alonso and Honda worsened, as the Japanese manufacturer refused its engine to Arrow McLaren in IndyCar.
Alonso’s famous ‘GP2 engine’ jibe at Honda’s home race at Suzuka in 2015, didn’t sit well with Honda. There was an ‘unofficial ban’ put up against the Spaniard by the Japanese manufacturer, but they are back together after Aston Martin signed an exclusive deal to start the F1 2026 era.
Fresh start for Alonso and Honda but with problems ahead of 2026 F1 Chinese GP
Unfortunately, things haven’t started on a good note for Aston Martin and Honda so far. Having had sound success in the V6 era, the Japanese manufacturer lost key personnel when it initially decided to leave F1. The lack of experience in handling the complex power unit is hurting them.
They ran limited number of laps in Barcelona and Bahrain tests. With the countermeasures in place for the first F1 2026 race in Australia, Aston Martin was bale to start with both Alonso and Lance Stroll in the grand prix. However, they retired at almost half distance to preserve the parts.
A decade later for Alonso and Honda
It’s been 10 years since the last time Alonso blasted at Honda, but when asked during F1 Chinese GP about the difference now, the Spaniard feels he sees things with a different perspective and maturity. He reckons things were blown out the last time.
Alonso reckons that people can now see why it can get frustrating inside the cockpit. He feels a lot more camaraderie between Aston Martin and Honda to work together and find a solution. “Yeah, about the ten-year difference, yes and no,” he said in the 2026 F1 Chinese GP press conference.
“I think I can see things now in a different perspective and a different maturity, but I don’t think that ten years ago things were, again, that dramatic. This is Formula 1, a very media-centric sport. When you win a few championships just racing against your team-mate, you are God, and then when you are fighting and having some difficult period, everything is magnified as well.“
Everybody had complaints then
Alonso reckons that while it was him who was highlighted a decade ago, but there was equal complaints on the Honda F1 situation from everyone at McLaren, including Jenson Button and Stoffel Vandoorne.
“In a way, ten years later, some of the things that people thought about me ten years ago, when we had this situation, now they maybe changed opinion and maybe they think that I was right ten years ago, because for me the biggest surprise was all these last few years thinking that ten years ago McLaren, Stoffel, Jenson, myself — because always people seem to remember only Fernando,” he said.
“But I think Jenson, Stoffel and McLaren, we were saying the same — that project, the power unit, was not mature enough when we started, which everyone seems now to understand. But two or three years ago it seemed that I was crazy, ten years ago, criticising or something like that.
“It was, I think, a few frustrations on the radio, which, yeah, were there, and as a double world champion and a competitive driver, I was not happy with the situation – wow, you know, should I be happy and clapping inside the car about the job?”
Everyone can see now why there is frustration
“So now I think when everyone sees from the outside that situation and they see the current situation, I think they are a little bit more friendly with us and they understand more the problems. And now what can I do in the team is just work harder, try to help Honda as much as we can, allocating some of the resources that Aston Martin has into the engine, into the power unit, into the vibration problems, into the deployment issues.
“Obviously, we are now in a different world in Formula 1 with all the data available, all the GPS, the analysis that we can have from the other teams, and we can allocate some of those resources to make Honda… or they can focus on one thing, and we can help them in some other areas on the power unit. So, we are one team.
“As I said, it’s a bumpy start, but I hope it will not last for too long. But it will not be an immediate solution either, so yeah, let’s see,” summed up Alonso. Starting the second weekend of 2026 at the F1 Chinese GP, the Spaniard expects nothing better for Aston Martin Honda than what was seen in Australia.
2026 Chinese GP will be no different
While Stroll managed to complete 43 laps in F1 Australian GP, Alonso did 21 in total. The idea is to run as many laps as possible in F1 Chinese GP. “Yeah, not really different, I would say,” he said. “The situation unfortunately didn’t change within four or five days since Melbourne.
“So yeah, I think it’s going to be another difficult weekend, trying to understand as much as possible on the car and, you know, eventually limit the laps in a couple of the sessions because we are short on parts, and yeah, try to get something positive out of the weekend.”
When pressed further about a good weekend, Alonso reiterated that lap count is important for Aston Martin and Honda F1. They want to run as many without problems troubling them to understand the base package and take the right steps to improve it further for a better future.
Lap count, mileage important for Aston Martin
“I think obviously when we are able to do laps without any issues, I think they are very important laps because even now here with Esteban and Pierre, they were not optimised for Australia and apparently it was the same case for everybody, and they are, I don’t know, maybe ten times ahead of us,” continued Alonso.
“If they completed 1,000 laps since Barcelona test, we completed maybe 100, so we are nine or ten times behind. So, if they are still not perfectly optimised, imagine ourselves. We are at square one, so we really need the laps, we really need to be able to practice and to find the window on the car and the chassis side.
“That will obviously be very important for the weekend, and I will be happy if we leave China with a more or less normal free practice, more or less normal quali, accumulating laps and probably attempting the full race on Sunday, if we are allowed,” summed up Alonso, while highlighting that there is no proper timeline to an end to their problems.
No timeline but fixing reliability is first step
The first goal is to fix reliability before switching to the second one of extracting performance. “Yeah, difficult to guess,” said Alonso. “I don’t know really. We still have too many issues and too many unknown issues that 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, well, 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 power and things, so there are two steps, let’s say, and hopefully the first step will come soon,” summed up Alonso.
Not ideal situation
With how things are going for Aston Martin and Honda, it is a toll on not just the whole team, but also the drivers, especially for Alonso considering he is at the far end of his F1 career. Team principal Adrian Newey highlighted the Spaniard to be at a ‘hard mental place’, last weekend in Australia.
When asked about it during F1 Chinese GP, Alonso agreed but noted it to be less tough than what people may think. Of course, it is not an ideal situation, but the two-time F1 champion is not affected, as finishing P3 or P5 or P17 is all the same for him.
“Less tough than what you think,” continued Alonso. “I mean, not ideal. We all want to win. We are 22 drivers this year. One will win, 21 will be in a difficult and tough mental state, because for me to finish third or fifth or 17th, it really doesn’t matter much.
Aston Martin and Honda in this together
“I was lucky enough and privileged enough to live different eras n Formula 1 and to have fun driving, and eventually super lucky to have competitive cars for half of my career and achieving more than 100 podiums in the category.
“So now to finish, as I said, in any other position that is not first, for me it’s the same pain and the same struggle. Obviously, we are now in this journey with the team, which is not the ideal start, but it’s the first year of this collaboration between Aston Martin and Honda and we have to go through this moment in time, and I’m ready to help as much as I can.”
