Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin situation in China not different than in Melbourne

The disastrous situation that Aston Martin and Honda find themselves in at the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season is well documented, with excessive vibrations from the Honda power unit preventing the team from running their cars for a full race distance.

Both Alonso and Lance Stroll took part in the race in Melbourne last weekend, and while they went beyond half the distance, the team had to call them in several times for checks before ultimately retiring both their cars.

And while Honda tried to project an optimistic forecast, Alonso said that was not realistic and reiterated his stance this weekend in Shanghai.

Asked about the situation at Aston Martin, the Spaniard said: "Not really different, I would say. The situation unfortunately didn't change within four or five days of Melbourne.

"I think it's going to be another difficult weekend, trying to understand as much as possible on the car and, you know, eventually limit the laps in a couple of the sessions because we are short on parts, and yeah, try to get something positive out of the weekend," he explained.

The two-time F1 Champion was then asked about the time frame required for Aston Martin to start having normal Grand Prix weekends.

"Difficult to guess," Alonso responded. "I don't know really. We still have too many issues and too many unknown issues that are coming day after day from nowhere, so it seems that we are not on top of the problems yet, and that's why it's difficult to guess.

"But we are pushing; we have very high professionals and talented people in the team, so I hope by a couple of Grands Prix we can have a normal weekend, well, at least in terms of doing laps and completing the sessions.

"Then to be competitive, I think that will take more time, to be honest, because once we fix the reliability, then we will be behind in terms of power and things, so there are two steps, let's say, and hopefully the first step will come soon," he concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)