Honda trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara has hailed last week’s Barcelona test as a "pivotal moment" in its relationship with Aston Martin, as it looks ahead to Bahrain.
The five-day Barcelona test marked the first on-track action for Aston Martin since it became a Honda works outfit, representing a significant milestone for the pair.
While Aston Martin only ran during the final hour of the penultimate day and throughout the final day, the Adrian Newey-designed AMR26 has already turned heads.
Across the very short period of running, 65 laps were completed by the Silverstone-based outfit, with only four completed by Lance Stroll.
Fernando Alonso was in the car for the entirety of the final day of the test, as Honda looked to gather data on its new power unit.
Gaining significant mileage and data will be key at next week’s first three-day Bahrain test, with Orihara acknowledging that it needs to assess the reliability of its engine.
"It's been a long time coming, quite frankly speaking," said Orihara. "Years of development and hard work culminates with this. Sakura, HRC UK and Aston Martin have been working tirelessly to develop, plan and build.
"The Barcelona Shakedown was a pivotal moment in our relationship and a good step in the right direction.
"Our next target is to accumulate mileage with our power unit to confirm engine reliability and to check all functions.
We're looking forward to seeing how the package behaves – car and power unit – as one machine."
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Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes and Nick Golding, as they look back on last week's five-day F1 test in Barcelona. McLaren's upgrade strategy is discussed, as is Aston Martin grabbing much attention with its striking AMR26.
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