Aston Martin urged to 'take breath' as Honda spy potential breakthrough

Aston Martin chief Mike Krack has urged the team to "take a breath" after its stand-out result in the Bahrain GP - in which Fernando Alonso more than doubled the team's 2026 points haul.

Heading into the Sepang race, Aston Martin had scored just three points all season, via 10th and ninth places for Alonso in Monaco and the Netherlands, respectively.

However, armed with the second ADUO-boosted Honda engine, Alonso banked eighth place in the wet-dry race, with those four points more than doubling Aston's haul thus far to move the team just five points behind Williams in the standings. 

In further good news for the team, for the first time in 2026, Lance Stroll finished a grand prix on the lead lap and was a contender for his first points of the season as he finished in 12th place, although the late safety car had bunched the field together with Alonso also moving up one place after Lando Norris's error behind the late safety car.

Detailing the relief in the team at scoring its best result of the season, Krack explained that after the "tough times" the team had to celebrate the "few positive moments" and "take a breath."

"I think let's not forget that three weeks ago, we were in Madrid and one week ago we were in Baku and it was just nowhere," Krack told media, including RacingNews365.

"I think we need to keep our feet on the ground and analyse why we were competitive [in Sepang] and look ahead and see how we can benefit more from that.

"But for the team, it is great because we have been really in tough times, and the few positive moments that you get, you have to not celebrate like a world championship party.

"But I think you need to take a breath and acknowledge when good results come your way because we have not been fortunate enough to have any or many for Honda."

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Honda spy potential breakthrough

Honda did reveal ahead of the weekend that both Stroll and Alonso had taken the second ADUO-upgraded engine at the Spanish and Azerbaijan GPs, respectively, with the focus being on the turbocharger.

As well as Alonso's points performance, Stroll also put in a battling performance, including a decisive overtake on Haas's Esteban Ocon in the tricky conditions, which called for increased drivability from the Honda engine - something it has struggled with at times in 2026.

However, as Honda chief Shintaro Orihara added, the wet conditions of the Sepang start had allowed Honda to capture crucial data which could be used in Singapore and going forward.

"Fortunately, we found some ways we should go to improve our performance, and proved our improvement of the drivability in Madrid and Baku," Orihara said.

"We didn't have major drivability issues, but the interesting point is that in wet conditions, we were energy-rich, and then the energy harvest was very different compared to other tracks because of the energy-rich situation.

"Then we had some improvements in our drivability because the operating point was different. 

"We can bring this learning to Singapore, which will be energy-rich, so generally, the drivability is getting better, and we gathered interesting data for Singapore, so we will be working to prepare our drivability and energy management for Singapore to maximise the opportunity."