Shintaro Orihara, head of operations for the Japanese manufacturer in Formula 1, has stated that “there is some progress” in terms of reliability.
Formula 1 returns this weekend after a month-long break, and teams have been working to improve their performance. One team that must continue to evolve is Aston Martin, which left an AMR26 with Honda after the Japanese Grand Prix, and the results seem promising.
“After the race, we kept one of the AMR26 cars at the factory to conduct static tests in Sakura for the first time, and we focused our efforts on reducing vibrations to improve reliability. We have made some progress, and this will allow us to implement further measures in Miami and throughout the season,” Orihara said.
He also expressed optimism about the progress: “It has been a long and intense period between races, with a lot of work in collaboration with Aston Martin both in Japan and the UK. The Japanese GP showed that the work is heading in the right direction and helps us find the motivation to keep pushing.”
However, the Honda chief cautioned: “Realistically, this progress won’t have a visible impact on the performance of the power unit, so we shouldn’t expect big leaps here.”