Honda has admitted that it underestimated the brutal cooling demands of Mexico City, shedding light on the technical problems that turned Aston Martin's race into a double retirement nightmare.
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were both out of Sunday's race within the opening five laps, bringing a miserable end to a weekend in which the Silverstone outfit had dared to hope for a meaningful step forward. Instead, the team left the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez empty-handed, with once again serious questions hanging over the reliability of its Honda power unit.
The Japanese manufacturer has now acknowledged that its Energy Recovery System (ERS) cooling circuit came under considerably more stress than anticipated, exposing a weakness that proved particularly punishing in Mexico City's rarefied atmosphere.
Honda's admission also suggests that the problems extended beyond an isolated race-day failure, having already disrupted Aston Martin's preparations during qualifying.
Honda caught out by Mexico City's extreme conditions
Aston Martin's weekend had begun with cautious optimism, the team targeting a place in Q2 with both cars. Those ambitions quickly evaporated when Alonso was forced to stop on track during the opening minutes of Q1 after a technical problem emerged.
Stroll managed to qualify only 17th, leaving the team with plenty of work to do ahead of Sunday's race. But neither driver would get anywhere near completing a meaningful stint, as both cars succumbed to their respective problems within five laps.
Honda Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer Shintaro Orihara conceded that the manufacturer had failed to anticipate just how demanding the conditions would prove for its cooling systems.
“We knew that with the special high-altitude circumstance of Mexico City, we would face some additional challenges compared to other racetracks for the cooling,” Orihara said.
“However, we found that our ERS cooling circuit was under heavier stress than anticipated, and this is why we had to stop the car in different sessions.”
Read also: F1i Driver Ratings for the 2026 Mexico City States Grand PrixThe explanation offers little comfort to Aston Martin, particularly given that the team had completed numerous laps during practice without encountering the same difficulties.
The sudden emergence of the problem during qualifying and the race exposed the limitations of Honda's preparations for one of the most demanding venues on the calendar.
Honda already looking towards 2027
Orihara acknowledged that the difficulties had taken the manufacturer by surprise, but insisted that the painful experience would feed directly into its development work.
“Despite completing a series of laps during the practice sessions, the issue occurred [in the race] and during qualifying,” he said.
The Japanese manufacturer is already looking beyond the immediate disappointment, with the lessons from Mexico expected to inform its preparations for next season.
“At each race this year, we need to learn for 2027, even the hard lessons,” he said. “We have a lot of data that we can bring back to this circuit next year, including on the turbo lag, and we will work on the solutions.”
For Aston Martin, however, the immediate concern is ensuring that Mexico's reliability disaster does not become a recurring feature. The next stop in São Paulo will offer Honda an opportunity to demonstrate that it can put the problems behind it, at a circuit sitting considerably lower above sea level.
After a weekend that promised encouragement but delivered only frustration, Alonso and Stroll will be hoping their machinery can at least make it to the chequered flag in Brazil.
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