Honda engine vibrations curiously vanish, then reappear, on Aston Martin F1 car

Fernando Alonso has revealed he had “nearly no vibrations” from his Aston Martin’s Honda Formula 1 engine on Friday at the Japanese Grand Prix, only for those to reoccur today.

Aston Martin and Honda have endeavoured to lessen crippling vibrations from their new engine, which damage batteries and spark driver health concerns.

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“I began to lose all feeling in my hands and feet” 20 laps into the Chinese GP, Alonso said two weeks ago. But there was marked improvement in Friday’s free practice sessions at Suzuka, after which Honda cautiously reported it obtained “useful data to know where we should go to reduce vibrations – not only for the battery system but also for the driver”.

Alas, the upturn in driver comfort did not last, as extreme vibrations returned to the AMR26 on Saturday.

“I think it’s still the biggest limiting factor,” Alonso commented following the qualifying session in Japan.

“Yesterday, to be honest, the car felt completely normal. Nearly no vibrations, so I was very positive. This morning I jumped in the car and I had the same vibrations as ever. And we didn’t change anything, so that was a little bit difficult to understand.

“We are going through all the changes we did overnight to make sure, you know, there is something yesterday on the car that is helping the vibrations. It seems a little bit of a random thing, so let’s see tomorrow if we have a lucky day.”

Asked if that was the first time he didn’t experience the vibrations, the Spanish veteran replied: “Yeah. From the testing and the first two races, yesterday was definitely 80% better.”

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

Regardless of the unreliability and physical discomfort, the AMR26 was slowest of all in qualifying at Suzuka. Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll will make up the back row of the grid in 21st and 22nd, 1.715s and 1.989s down on the Q2 cut-off time respectively.

“It’s a combination of power unit and car,” Stroll analysed. “We’re definitely losing huge amounts of time on the straights, but we’re not the grippiest beast in the corners.”

Two weeks ago, Stroll’s Chinese GP ended after nine laps due to a reported battery issue, which Honda clarified “was not related to vibration”.

“So I didn’t suffer the way Fernando suffered,” the Canadian pointed out. “So I will discover more of that for myself tomorrow, hopefully, if we don’t have any issues. And then we’ll see the rest, reliability, batteries, engine, if everything hangs on.”

The goal remains to complete a race distance consecutively for the first time this season, even though the vibrations make it a tall order.

“I’ll try and sleep well tonight and just brace myself,” Stroll concluded.

Photos from Japanese GP – Saturday