Aug.22 (GMM) Fernando Alonso says talks over his Aston Martin future are now looming, just as the team’s heavily revised Honda-powered package showed fresh problems at Zandvoort.
The 45-year-old Spaniard had previously indicated that a decision would come around the summer, but now says there is no firm deadline.
“I just got back from vacation, so I’ll just see how things go over the next few days or weeks,” said Alonso.
“Lawrence (Stroll) is here this weekend, so I’m going to go have a nice lunch and coffee with him.”
Alonso says discussions could also continue at Monza or back at the factory with Adrian Newey. “I also have to stop by the factory again to practice Madrid on the simulators, so maybe if Lawrence or Adrian are there then,” he explained.
“Maybe in the coming weeks.”
His future talks come as Aston Martin continues trying to understand its latest technical package.
Honda introduced its new Spec 2 power unit at Zandvoort and confirmed a performance gain, but Alonso said Sprint qualifying exposed multiple drivability problems.
“They were handling issues, as the engine was pushing hard on the straights and it was difficult to brake the car because of what seemed to be an over-delivery situation,” he said.
The active aerodynamics also malfunctioned, leaving Alonso dead last.
He nevertheless says the new package is still a step forward, just not yet fully understood.
“It’s a step forward, but it’s early days, we haven’t been working on it for very long, and perhaps everything is a bit immature,” said Alonso.
“And being a sprint weekend, you don’t have the three practice sessions of other Grands Prix, and you can’t perfect the package before experiencing a situation like qualifying.”
Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara also confirmed that the new engine itself delivered the expected improvement.
“We introduced the Spec 2 power unit for the first time and we were able to confirm the performance improvement over Spec 1 in today’s run,” said the Japanese.
“We also found that there are still areas for improvement, particularly regarding the data settings related to drivability.”