Martin Brundle believes Lawrence Stroll is at "his wit's end" at Aston Martin's poor reliability record in 2026 as Honda struggles for solutions.
The first year of the Aston Martin-Honda alliance has been a major disappointment, with the Honda power unit suffering from myriad issues, including vibrations, drivability concerns, and a lack of power.
In the Australia season-opener, Adrian Newey revealed that Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll risked permanent nerve damage as the vibrations through the chassis were so severe, with countermeasures being deployed as Honda worked to find solutions.
A new chassis and new ADUO-boosted engine were introduced around the summer break, but Honda is still struggling with battery and ERS issues.
In the Sao Paulo GP, Stroll retired for the 13th time, this time with a battery issue, as the Canadian still awaits his first points haul of the season.
After the retirement, Brundle revealed a conversation with Stroll's father, and team owner, Lawrence.
"We were talking to Lawrence Stroll, the boss, about it," Brundle explained on Sky Sports F1 commentary following Lance Stroll's retirement.
"He's at his wit's end; he doesn't know what to do about these endless reliability issues and non-finishes in the team.
"What are they going to do for next year? Have they got different ideas, different people to sort the problem out?
"The battery pack, the ERS, the energy recovery system and just the power deficit they've got. That's the problem Aston Martin has at the moment: Where do they go from here?”
[Article continues below]
Honda trying to find cause of Stroll DNF
Addressing Stroll's DNF, Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara indicated that it did not know what the "root cause" was.
"We had another battery issue on Lance's car. We know what happened, but we don't know what the root cause is,” Orihara said.
"We will check the data and also we will check the battery, and it may take a few weeks to find the root cause.
"But from the data, we need to find some countermeasure for next year, and also we need to find the actual root cause of this error for next year.
"Otherwise, we keep having the same issue, so this is quite important for us to understand what the root cause is."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Samuel Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the São Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil! Max Verstappen’s simply staggering recovery from 21st on the grid is a key talking point, as is Ferrari’s current power unit struggles.
Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!
Most read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!