As Aston Martin and its engine partner Honda sat down to face reporters ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, the conversation quickly drifted toward the headline topic the team clearly wished would disappear: batteries.
Following a disastrous season-opener in Melbourne – where Fernando Alonso retired and Lance Stroll finished a humiliating 15 laps down – Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack and Honda’s Shintaro Orihara found themselves in the crosshairs on Thursday in Shanghai.
The media’s inquiry was simple: after the "crippling vibrations" of the Honda power unit reportedly fried the team's energy stores, how many spares do they actually have?
What followed was a carefully worded – and occasionally prickly – exchange that only deepened the intrigue surrounding the team’s troubled start to the 2026 season.
Reliability the Challenging Point to Improve
Both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll endured a miserable afternoon last weekend at Albert Park after violent vibrations from the Aston Martin’s new Honda-powered engine wreaked havoc on the car’s energy store systems.
Alonso was forced to retire after a fragmented race featuring short stints separated by lengthy garage visits, while Stroll limped to the finish so far behind the leaders he was not classified.
©Aston Martin
In Shanghai, Honda’s trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara insisted progress had been made – even if the problem is far from solved.
“We have found some progress on the vibration situation, and then still we keep working hard to reduce vibration,” Orihara said.
“Still, reliability is our challenging point to improve. So still we are working hard in dialogue with Aston Martin, and then we found something, another countermeasure, so maybe we can try something.
“Also, we have accumulated mileage in the race, so we learned something from the race event for the driveability and also energy management. So we implement that learning into our simulation system.”
The Battery Question Nobody Wanted
But the mood shifted when the conversation turned to spare batteries.
After Melbourne, Honda was left attempting to salvage the only two units available to the team – a detail that immediately raised eyebrows about how many functional batteries would be on hand in China.
Orihara confirmed repairs were underway, though he remained cautious about offering specifics.
“We are trying to repair the battery,” he said. “We saw some good progress in terms of repairing. I can't say detail point, but we are keeping working hard to repair the battery.
“So, maybe we can repair the battery, because that battery issue is not relating to vibration, just small things inside the battery.”
When asked how many batteries were available for the Shanghai weekend, however, both Honda and Aston Martin quickly closed ranks.
“We can't say the exact number, but we keep trying to repair the battery to get more spares. But, sorry, I can't say the number,” Orihara said.
The evasiveness only prompted further questions – and that’s when Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack stepped in.
“I think we should not... What is the point if we go on about the number of batteries?” Krack snapped.
“I don't think that this is something that we should try to insist on, insist on and insist on. We have a situation that was disclosed in Melbourne, and I don't think that we should continue on this battery number discussion, if you allow.”
Even attempts to revisit the topic from another angle met resistance.
When pressed about the condition of the Melbourne batteries – and other operational challenges surrounding the Honda programme – Orihara quickly attempted to redirect the discussion.
“Also, I want to focus to the technical side in this meeting. Is that okay for you?” he said.
Drivers Feeling the Strain
While the engineering puzzle continues behind the scenes, the situation has taken a physical toll on the drivers.
Severe vibrations in the car have reportedly caused intense discomfort, with the problem becoming so extreme during testing that fears were raised about possible nerve damage in the drivers’ hands.
Performance has also been alarmingly poor. Alonso struggled to keep pace in Melbourne qualifying, finishing more than two seconds off the benchmark in Q1 – leaving the Aston Martin only ahead of the struggling Cadillacs.
Despite the frustration, Krack insists the team remains united with its drivers.
“You know, it's a difficult situation, obviously,” he said. “Nobody wants to be in that position, but the drivers are part of the team, just like we are, and we are in this together.
“So we have to try and find ways to work together.
“Sometimes it's more emotional, sometimes it is more constructive, and you have to understand that the drivers are in a unique situation because they have to do what we do all the time here.
“After every session, they have to answer questions and they have to answer questions that are really difficult to them. And often they do not have a solution or they do not have the right answer to give. So, I think their frustration level is understandably a little bit higher.”
For now, Aston Martin’s ambitions for Shanghai remain modest.
“Every lap you do is important,” Krack insisted. “When you go racing, that has to be the first target. So, we'll try.
“I think with the steps we have made, with further steps that we are going to try this weekend, it will bring us closer to that, and that will obviously be the target.”
But after the tense media exchange – and the mystery surrounding those batteries – one thing is clear: the Aston Martin-Honda partnership is already under intense scrutiny, just one race into its new era.
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