Fernando Alonso is relieved to report that Aston Martin has fixed the persistent vibrations in the Honda engine. After qualifying in Miami, he stated that the AMR26 now feels ‘normal’ again. In the opening races, the team struggled with vibrations that penetrated the cockpit. Alonso often retired early – either due to physical discomfort or technical issues. However, in Miami, he expects to simply make it to the checkered flag.
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Aston Martin made grateful use of the unexpected spring break. In collaboration with engine partner Honda, the team worked tirelessly to tackle the persistent vibration problems. Alonso already noted after the sprint qualifying on Friday that the car had improved significantly compared to Japan. Although Aston Martin still lacks the necessary speed – Alonso initially clocked the eighteenth time on Saturday – the British racing team has made a big leap forward in terms of reliability. After the main qualifying, the experienced Spaniard was certain: his car no longer vibrates.
Long way to go
“Seventeenth place is about a second away from us,” he told the press afterwards. “So we still have a long way to go. Yet the car is much more reliable and the vibrations have largely disappeared. That is the most positive takeaway from this weekend. Let’s say that – after all the hard work – we can check that box; the car feels normal again. It should therefore not be a problem to finish the race tomorrow.”
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“Regarding our pace: of course, we didn’t bring any upgrades,” Alonso continued realistically. “So we have probably fallen a bit further behind.” Fixing the vibrations was the main focus in Silverstone in recent weeks. “As long as you don’t understand the problems, it’s hard to have confidence in new performance upgrades,” the Spaniard explained. About his qualifying, he said: “The biggest problem for me was the gearbox; it was impossible to drive with it. I had no acceleration out of the corners and downshifting went completely wrong. Sometimes I had understeer, sometimes the rear wheel locked up. That was an unpleasant surprise. Especially in the rain, I don’t think we can race like this.”
Due to the disqualification of Isack Hadjar, Alonso inherited the seventeenth starting position from Arvid Lindblad. The main race starts Sunday at 19:00, Dutch time.
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