Fernando Alonso on Aston Martin’s progress, Honda explains Mexico debacle

Fernando Alonso always enjoys travelling to Brazil, as Interlagos holds fond memories for him: the Spaniard secured both his World Championship titles in 2005 and 2006 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, whilst driving for Renault.

Twenty years on, it would be nothing short of a miracle if Alonso were to finish in the top ten. It’s not down to the 45-year-old Asturian himself; rather, his patience with the 2026 Aston Martin-Honda is being put to the test.

Take Mexico, for instance: almost simultaneously, on the sixth lap of the historic Grand Prix, the green race cars driven by Alonso and Lance Stroll came to a halt.

Honda has now commented on what went wrong in Mexico City. Honda project manager Shintaro Orihara said: “We knew that, given Mexico City’s high altitude compared to other circuits, we would face additional cooling challenges.”

“But our energy recovery cooling circuit was then put under greater strain than expected. The data from all three free practice sessions had shown no irregularities, so we initially had no indication of a problem.”

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“Then, however, the first cooling problem occurred in Alonso’s car during the first qualifying segment. And unfortunately, the same problem then cropped up in the race as well, this time affecting both cars.”

Fernando Alonso, winner of 32 Grand Prix races, said in the Interlagos paddock: “Basically, I really enjoy being here – two world championship titles and nine podium finishes is nothing to be sniffed at. There’s always plenty of action here, and that’s down to the circuit layout.”

“In recent years we’ve always had sprints here; now we’re racing in the classic format, which will feel different and means we’ll have a bit more time to set up the cars.”

Where does Aston Martin stand at the moment? Alonso says: “We’re slowly making up ground. Sepang was good, Singapore so-so, Austin very good – we were right in the mix during the race despite a damaged car. Mexico was a nice surprise for me; unfortunately, the car let us down.”

“We’re more competitive than in the first part of the season, which is encouraging. For us, competitive means somewhere around P12, P13 or P14. But in Mexico I was close to Haas driver Hirakawa, and in the end he finished tenth.”

This weekend, Lewis Hamilton joins Formula 1’s 400-race club, of which only Fernando Alonso has been a member so far. The Spaniard says: “I’m delighted that the club is gaining a new member. Lewis has had a fantastic career, and if anyone deserves to be in this club, it’s him. But I reckon, with so many races as we have now, we’ll be getting more club members.”