Fernando Alonso remains undecided about his future. The Asturian driver has yet to confirm whether he will renew with Aston Martin or retire from Formula 1, but there is one factor that appears set to be decisive: Honda. Alonso needs to see progress in the power unit to believe in the project.
It has been Alonso himself who put it into words in Monza, on the eve of the Italian Grand Prix. The two-time world champion has urged Honda to shorten its timelines to develop a competitive engine. Alonso does not want another five- or six-year saga like the McLaren years, and now he states that he would settle for two or three.
Alonso confirms that Aston Martin is one of the best cars on cornering
Despite the positive vibes from the last couple of races, the Monza weekend is shaping up to be a grind for Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin. Honda’s underpowered engine continues to hold them back, and the improvement implemented at Zandvoort had little effect. Alonso for now does not despair, but he makes a clear request to Honda.
Alonso says that Monza “will be one of the worst weekends for us, along with Baku and Las Vegas,” though he leaves a glimmer of hope, stating that “perhaps I am too pessimistic and I’ll be surprised.” The problem is that the new Honda engine did not perform as expected in Zandvoort.
Alonso insists that “it wasn’t a great improvement, honestly. Handling is a problem and it was hard to feel the extra power. Monza may prove to be a more real test for the engine.” It is increasingly clear that renewing with Aston Martin or not will depend on Alonso seeing progress in the Japanese power unit.
And the thing is that Alonso says he is convinced that “Honda will make a engine to win,” but the big question is when. The Asturian driver is already 45, so he sets deadlines for Honda: “We need to shorten the timelines and avoid having to wait five years. We want them to be only two or three.” Honda itself recently set 2028 as the key date.
The matter is that Alonso is genuinely satisfied with the rest of the car. He says that “since Budapest our situation in corners is good,” and adds that “this philosophy and strategy, this development pace, could lead us to be among the fastest in the corners.” But it will be for nothing if Honda does not match the pace.
In Monza two more updated pieces arrive from Adrian Newey, the suspension fairings and the floor edges. The best news would be if they managed to crack the key to that engine.
Images | Aston Martin, Formula 1, Honda
