HONDA The Power of Dreams

DNF　｜　21 laps

NC　｜　43 laps

The opening round of the 2026 season took place on March 8 at 15:00 local time under clear skies, with an ambient temperature of 20°C and a track temperature of 36°C.

For the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, Fernando Alonso started from 17th on the grid. Although Lance Stroll had been unable to participate in qualifying, he was permitted to start the race from 22nd on the grid following approval from the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile.

Alonso made an excellent start and, amid the opening-lap battles, climbed to 10th position by the end of the first lap. He maintained that position through the early stages of the race, but from lap three onward gradually lost ground. Running in 16th place after 10 laps, Alonso made a pit stop during a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period triggered by another car stopping on track. After rejoining the race following a tire change, he reported an issue with the car over team radio and returned to the pits two laps later. The team carried out adjustments in the garage before sending him back onto the circuit, where he continued to circulate to gather valuable data before eventually retiring on lap 21.

Starting from the back of the grid, Stroll completed the opening lap in 20th position and continued to run throughout the race. He returned to the pits several times for tire changes and car checks but remained committed to the race and took the checkered flag. However, having completed 43 laps—less than 90% of the winner’s race distance—he was not classified in the final results.

“The first two laps were the most enjoyable part of the race for me. We had a good start and ended up P10 which was unexpected. We were then out of position and so we fell back. We then brought the car into the garage to check things over and went back out before we had to retire the car. China next weekend will be another good opportunity to get mileage and optimize things.”

“It was good to get some kilometers in the car today, especially after missing pretty much all the track running this weekend. We used the race as a learning session and stopped for several laps to check things over in the garage before heading back out. There’s still quite a bit missing in terms of performance and reliability, but the laps we managed today should give us a bit more direction going into China.”

“Today was primarily an opportunity to learn more about the AMR26. Both cars took the start and, when it became clear we could not compete for points, we chose to pit and check the cars over. The team then asked Fernando to retire the car to preserve components. The data and learnings from this weekend will help us as we go into the next event.”

“In Melbourne, we made another step in the right direction. We were able to see that our power unit improvements worked in race conditions when we ran in the grand prix without reliability issues. This improvement has been significant if you look at where we were in Bahrain compared to where we are now. This event was extremely important for us to check battery reliability. Since the Bahrain tests, Aston Martin Aramco and Honda have worked together very closely to find a solution to the battery vibration issues. As one team we have been working around the clock to find and implement these improvements. We can see from our data that the battery vibrations have continued to decrease, and we are now confident we are on track to complete a full race distance. In this aspect, we are on the right trajectory, and we need to keep up this momentum. Every lap we can complete is vital for our PU data gathering, so the hard work and maximum effort will only continue as we move forward.

“Next week in China, we are now confident to build up more mileage on the battery. We will focus on putting in the laps and gathering data to improve our performance and optimize our energy management.”