Fernando Alonso makes pointed Honda suggestion: 'If they have stock'

Fernando Alonso is ready to compete in the Australian Grand Prix, but he is not so sure about Honda.

Alonso and Aston Martin endured a torturous opening day of the new F1 season, with the two-time champion consigned to the garage for the entirety of FP1 at Melbourne's Albert Park with a power unit issue, whilst team-mate Lance Stroll only managed three laps due to additional concerns.

The second session was more productive as the duo completed 31 laps between them, albeit with Alonso five seconds off the pace and Stroll six seconds adrift, the latter sitting a few tenths outside the 107% time that will be required for qualifying on Saturday.

Alarmingly, team principal Adrian Newey confirmed in between sessions that the team had burned through two battery packs to that point, and only had two remaining for the rest of the weekend, declaring the situation to be "scary".

Assessing the opening day and whether he had felt there had been any improvement, Alonso said: "Obviously, we are still analysing the data of FP1.

"It didn't feel much different, to be honest, than in Bahrain, and we didn't complete too many laps because of the Honda issue in FP1, and [there were] some Honda issues as well in FP2.

"So, yeah, we still need to catch up a little on the weekend program. Hopefully, tomorrow we have a cleaner FP3."

As to whether he was on a knife-edge to compete in the grand prix, Alonso replied: "We are okay to do it. It's more a question for Honda, if they have stock."

Alonso - things are happening

Alonso, though, at least attempted to find positives despite the gravity of the situation within the team, indicating there to be light at the end of the tunnel.

"We are far less negative than the media and people around," he said. "It's nice to tell the story when someone is doing great, and sometimes when someone is doing wrong. You try to exaggerate both ends.

"We know where we are. We have a big challenge in front of us, but everyone in the team is embracing the challenge in a way and trying everything we can to get out of the situation.

"This is Formula 1. Unfortunately, technology is very complex, and things require a little bit of time. We are running every day in free practices and every week, grand prix to grand prix, and maybe we don't see the progress that we all want to see.

"But things are happening, big and small. There is always progress in teams, so let's hope that it's visible in lap time as soon as possible."