Autobayng News Team
Honda says its latest improvements to its power unit have reduced the vibration problems Aston Martin experienced in testing.
Aston Martin arrived at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix expecting to limit the number of laps Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll could complete due to the problems. First practice began unpromisingly: Stroll completed just three laps before encountering a power unit problem while Alonso did not leave the garage at all.
The ARM26s ran more consistently in second practice however. Honda said the running allowed them to validate the improvements they have made to their RA626H power unit.
“FP2 today was valuable for us, as we were able to see the effects of our countermeasures,” said trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaru Orihara. “With Lance and Fernando completing a combined 31 laps, we were able to gather the necessary data to determine that the items we implemented first on the dyno at HRC Sakura are working at the track. As a result, there are less battery vibrations occurring according to our analysis gathered during the session.”
“Today did start off with us identifying a power unit issue on Fernando’s car,” he acknowledged. “We tried to rectify this before the start of FP1, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to complete the work on time.
“Therefore, the decision was made that car number 14 would sit out of the session whilst the work on the PU continued. We also had an issue with Lance’s PU, and we decided to box and investigate, allowing us to make the changes for FP2.”
The team’s situation this weekend remains precarious as it does not have any spare batteries. It brought four to the track but discovered communications problems with two of them, leaving just two to fit to their cars.
After second practice chief trackside engineer Mike Krack admitted “there’s a lot of tired faces already after the last two days” at Aston Martin. “We need to take a couple of decisions in terms of how we approach tomorrow, in terms of car set-up and in terms of car configuration, which we will do now as quickly as possible. The curfew is coming quickly, and then a bit later we will analyse stuff that we can also change tomorrow on the computer.”
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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine
