Fernando Alonso "disappointed" with lack of Honda spares as Aston Martin’s F1 Australian GP in doubt

Fernando Alonso is disappointed by Aston Martin no longer having spare batteries for its Honda power unit in what has been a disastrous start to its 2026 Formula 1 campaign.

The Silverstone outfit entered a works’ deal with Honda for the new regulation cycle this year, but vast problems have arisen in the buildup to the first race due to excessive vibrations in the engine.

Aston has continuously suffered battery failures as a result, and the situation is now so dire that team boss Adrian Newey revealed it doesn’t have any spares for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.

It therefore puts the squad at risk of not starting the Melbourne contest but even if it did, its AMR26 is believed to be restricted to just 25 of the scheduled 58 laps.

“We are okay to do it,” Alonso told Sky Sports. “It’s more a question for Honda if they have a stock.”

“Obviously, I feel disappointed to not have a stock,” he then said on F1 TV, “[with Honda] only supplying one team, but this is the situation.”

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

The two-time F1 champion consequently skipped FP1 at Albert Park before completing just 18 laps in second practice, where he was 4.933s off the pace with Aston clearly the championship’s worst team.

“Not much learning, to be honest,” said Alonso, whose team-mate Lance Stroll did 16 laps across both sessions and was also several seconds behind.

“Unfortunately, the Honda issue in FP1 and some Honda issues as well in FP2, a little bit limited our number of laps today.

“That was not needed again because we need to recover a little bit in terms of understanding the car as well and the window of where this car operates.

“Obviously, we brought a completely new package into this race and we need to understand where to run that package in terms of set-up. We didn’t manage too many laps today, so hopefully a cleaner FP3 tomorrow.”

The problems at Aston have long been known after it conducted limited running in pre-season testing, but more and more has come out across this Melbourne weekend.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

It didn’t know until November, for example, that the Honda workforce was largely new and inexperienced following its split from Red Bull, and Newey is already telling the Japanese marque to focus on next year.

What arguably makes it worse is that Aston ditched the highly competitive Mercedes engine for Honda, but there are also issues on the chassis side as it started its wind tunnel programme four months late.

But the team, and Alonso, are putting on a brave face as the Spaniard said: “We are much less negative than media and people around. It’s nice to tell the story when someone is doing great and when someone is doing wrongly or things are not going well.

“You try to exaggerate both ends and we know where we are. As I said yesterday, we have a big challenge in front of us but everyone in the team is embracing the challenge in a way and trying everything we can to go out of the situation.

“This is Formula 1, unfortunately technology is very complex and things require a little bit of time and we are running every day on free practises and every week grand prix to grand prix and maybe we don’t see the progress that we all want to see.

“But there are things happening, smaller or bigger, but there is always progress. So let’s hope that it’s visible in lap time as soon as possible.”

Photos from Australian GP – FridayOscar Piastri, McLaren

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

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Lando Norris, McLaren

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Lando Norris, McLaren

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Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Lily Zneimer

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Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

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Alexandra Leclerc

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Esteban Ocon, Haas F1, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1

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Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

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Lawrence Stroll, Aston Martin

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Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls

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Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

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Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

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Esteban Ocon, Haas F1, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1

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Esteban Ocon, Haas F1, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1

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Pierre Gasly, Alpine

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Pierre Gasly, Alpine

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Edie Piastri

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Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

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Bill Ford, great-grandson of Ford founder Henry Ford

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Mercedes mechanics at work

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Lando Norris, McLaren

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Carlos Sainz, Williams

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Oscar Piastri, McLaren

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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

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Oscar Piastri, McLaren

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George Russell, Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

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Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team

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Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team

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Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

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Alexander Albon, Williams

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Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls

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Lando Norris, McLaren

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Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

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Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team

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Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team

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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

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Carlos Sainz, Williams

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Alexander Albon, Williams

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Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls

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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

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Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing

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Car of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

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Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

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Sergio Perez, Cadillac F1 Team

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

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George Russell, Mercedes

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George Russell, Mercedes

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Lando Norris, McLaren

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Alexander Albon, Williams

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Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

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Lando Norris, McLaren

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Carlos Sainz, Williams

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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

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Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

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Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls

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Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team

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Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

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Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

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Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

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Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team

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Lando Norris, McLaren

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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing

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Fernando Alonso “disappointed” with lack of Honda spares as Aston Martin’s F1 Australian GP in doubt

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