HONDA The Power of Dreams

10th

DNF|56 laps

The Monaco Grand Prix, Round 6 of the season, took place on June 7 at 3:00 pm local time in sunny conditions, with an ambient temperature of 24°C and a track temperature of 41°C.

For the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ Team (AMAF1), Fernando Alonso started from 21st on the grid and Lance Stroll from 22nd. Both drivers began the race on medium-compound tires.

The AMAF1 drivers successfully navigated the opening-lap incidents, with Alonso moving up to 17th and Stroll to 18th by the end of Lap 1. After completing three laps, Alonso pitted for soft tires. Stroll followed a lap later, also switching to softs. Alonso rejoined in 17th and Stroll in 18th. By Lap 10, as cars ahead made their pit stops, Alonso had moved up to 16th and Stroll to 17th.

On Lap 44, retirements among the front-runners promoted Alonso to 15th and Stroll to 16th. Both drivers continued on their soft tires for more than 50 laps as the race entered its closing stages.

The final phase of the race proved highly dramatic, with multiple penalties and incidents affecting the order. On Lap 57, Stroll lost control on a rough section of tarmac at the final corner and crashed. After a determined drive that had kept him in contention deep into the race, Stroll was forced to retire. The incident triggered a Safety Car period while his car was recovered.

On Lap 66, just before the race was due to restart, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc crashed at the same final corner, resulting in another Safety Car deployment. Concerns over the track surface led to a red-flag stoppage while repairs and inspections were carried out.

After an interruption of more than 30 minutes, the race resumed at 5:12 pm local time behind the Safety Car for two laps before returning to racing conditions with a standing start on Lap 71. Having fitted a new set of soft tires during the red-flag period, Alonso made an excellent start from 14th and initially gained positions. However, he was forced to avoid an incident ahead at the hairpin and lost places to cars behind. Following another retirement, Alonso completed Lap 71 in 13th position. On Lap 73, a drive-through penalty for a car ahead promoted him to 12th. Alonso crossed the finish line in 12th place at the end of the 78-lap race.

Following the race, two cars ahead received time penalties, elevating Alonso to 10th in the final classification. Alonso and AMAF1 secured their best result of the season so far, earning one championship point. It also marked the first points scored since the beginning of the partnership between AMAF1 and Honda.

“I took a lot of risk on lap one and at the restart, and just tried to consolidate whatever position we were in. It was so difficult out there today, but we went aggressive with the strategy, stopping on Lap 3, and we were thinking to go until the end of the race with just one stop. ”

“The red flag restart helped, and we made sure to take the opportunities that were available to us. So I think we managed the race quite well and it was a nice reward for everybody in the team to score our first point of the year.”

“We've been dealing with these drivability issues all season, and it was the same again this weekend.
The acceleration and deceleration just isn't consistent, and it changes from one corner to the next. At most circuits you've got some run-off to work with, so you can manage it, but around here the walls are really close and any issue can put you into the barrier. That was also a big reason why I was getting picked up for track limits. ”

“We'll take a closer look after the race, and the team will keep pushing for improvements ahead of Barcelona next week.”

“It proved to be a typical race of attrition in Monaco, which helped us progress to our best result of the year with Fernando in P10 – our first point scored with Honda. It was not an easy weekend, and the car has been difficult to drive, but we knew there could be opportunities, and we were there when it mattered at the end. ”

“The retirement of Lance is something we are investigating. He has been suffering with problems in the deceleration phase of corners, which seems to have contributed to the crash at Turn 19. The track breaking up may have played a part too.”

“Overnight and into this morning we had many discussions with the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ Team to prepare for all eventualities at the Monaco Grand Prix. Today was about adapting to the different situations that arose. Much of it was about working extremely closely with the team to give the drivers the correct power unit options they needed during the race. P10 is the best result for us so far this year, but it's down to the special circumstances surrounding Monaco and this isn't representative of our PU performance. However, this position is reflective of the hard work that went into this weekend alongside the team and drivers.”

“Unfortunately, Lance suffered a race-ending accident, which the team is investigating. The drivers have experienced drivability issues all weekend, especially in the deceleration phase of the corners. We will continue to look into this with support from HRC Sakura."