Honda claim batteries now handling the vibrations but not Aston Martin's drivers

Alonso retired having passed half distance, as he could not handle the vibrations any more, with onboard footage showing the Spaniard taking his hands off the steering wheel several times to soothe the pain.

Reflecting on the Chinese Grand Prix, Shintaro Orihara, Honda's Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer said: "We cannot be satisfied with the double DNF in the Chinese Grand Prix today [Sunday].

"However, if we focus on the more favorable areas, we ran more miles than in Melbourne, which is encouraging. We also increased our reliability throughout the Sprint weekend, but this isn't yet enough to complete the full race distance.

"We have improved the vibrations on the systems side, but it's still an issue for driver comfort. This is a key area to address as we look ahead to the next race in Japan."

As for Stroll's DNF, it was due to an issue with his AMR26, which Orihara explained: "As for Lance's DNF, we are currently investigating the root cause, and work will continue with HRC Sakura, together with Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ Team, to understand what happened on the ninth lap."

The F1 race in Shanghai last weekend saw only 15 cars finishing, while some did not even start due to technical issues.

Orihara seemed to take some comfort from that fact; he added: "The 2026 regulations are far from simple, as shown by the number of DNFs and DNSs today [Sunday].

"We know this isn't an excuse for our reliability and performance, and we will strive to improve. We have more work ahead of us, and that is our priority right now," he concluded.