Honda has accepted responsibility for Aston Martin’s double retirement at the Mexico City Grand Prix. The Japanese manufacturer admits it underestimated how much cooling its power unit would need at the high-altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both stopped in the opening laps on Sunday. Honda’s post-race report explains what happened in Mexico City: the energy recovery system’s cooling circuit was put under more strain than the manufacturer had planned for.
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Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s trackside general manager and chief engineer, said the team knew Mexico would be hard on the car’s cooling, but not this hard. The circuit sits nearly 2,250 metres above sea level. Up there the thinner air cools the car less effectively, and the turbocharger has to work harder to force enough oxygen into the engine.
“We knew that with the special high-altitude circumstance of Mexico City, we would face some additional challenges compared to other racetracks for the cooling.”
Orihara added that “our ERS cooling circuit was under heavier stress than anticipated.” He also said the data from all three practice sessions had shown nothing unusual, so Honda had no warning of the problem that appeared later in the weekend. The fault first struck in qualifying. Alonso was told to stop in Q1 with a suspected ERS-related water pressure issue, and the same problem came back in the race.
Photo: Race Pictures
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“The same MGUK issue that stopped us in Qualifying reoccurred and forced us to stop,” the two-time world champion said after the race, adding: “I’m doing my best to stay motivated.”
Alonso was taken back to the pits and retired, while Stroll pulled over on track and brought out a short Virtual Safety Car.
It was the fifth time this season that both Honda-powered Aston Martins had failed to finish. After 19 races, the team sits tenth in the constructors’ championship with seven points, all of which have been scored by Alonso. The weekend was even more disappointing because Alonso had also said that they had looked competitive during the free practice sessions.
Team principal Adrian Newey said after the race: “It has been a disappointing day, especially as Fernando showed very good pace all weekend.”
