Aston Martin’s Honda batteries are failing ‘en masse’ in the build-up to the Australian Grand Prix

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Aston Martin face a growing list of problems to tackle ahead of arriving in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix.

Honda are at the root cause of many of the issues that have many people predicting Aston Martin to be fighting Cadillac at the very back of the grid.

Fernando Alonso broke down on day five of testing in Bahrain, and Lance Stroll couldn’t set a single flying lap the next day due to Honda’s concerns.

A frank verdict from Stroll as Aston Martin look for answers 👀

Finish the sentence 'In Australia, Aston Martin will finish XX and XX'…

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Lawrence Stroll has invested huge sums to make Aston Martin a leading manufacturer in Formula 1, but right now, it’s hard to see them getting out of Q1 at the Australian Grand Prix, let alone challenging for podiums, wins and championships.

Honda are promising fixes to their biggest issues, but there’s now talk that the battery element of their new power unit is nowhere near reliable enough ahead of the start of the season.

READ MORE: Anthony Davidson thinks Aston Martin’s Honda engine suffered a ‘harvesting’ issue at Bahrain testing

Honda batteries are failing ‘en masse’ for Aston Martin ahead of the Australian Grand Prix

A report from the Swiss outlet Blick has shared more details about just how bad things are getting for Aston Martin.

The report states a ‘divided’ Aston Martin and Honda team are ‘working day and night’ to try and resolve the problems that testing in Bahrain uncovered.

It’s been suggested that Honda’s batteries are now failing ‘en masse’ ahead of the opening race of the season.

It will give Alonso flashbacks to the last time he worked with Honda during his spell with McLaren, according to Jolyon Palmer, when he was expecting to join a class-leading team and instead suffered through three campaigns of mediocrity.

Blick reports that the Japanese manufacturer vowed that Alonso would ‘never drive a Honda-powered car’ again after comparing their engine to a GP2 power unit; however, their relationship was patched up ahead of the season starting.

However, given Honda’s problems in testing, Alonso is unlikely to give them another chance as he watches what could be his final opportunity to his 32 Grand Prix wins fade away.

READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Honda admit they are ‘not happy’ with Bahrain testing after Aston Martin failures

Honda will be well aware that they are going to be under the microscope during the opening rounds of the season if Aston Martin are as far off the pace as expected.

Chief engineer and trackside general manager, Shintaro Orihara, reflected on Honda’s performance in Bahrain and said in his official post-test debrief: “Our main target during this week’s test was to build up mileage on the power unit, check the engine reliability and gather data.

“We collected data successfully; however, we didn’t achieve the accumulated mileage that we were targeting.

“On Thursday, we identified an issue in the power unit, and all of us have been uniting efforts to find a solution during our last day of testing. Overnight and today, HRC Sakura, the AMRTC in Silverstone and our crews in Bahrain worked together on a limited run plan, which was jointly agreed [upon] considering a shortage of parts.

“It has been an enduring week, but we extend our thanks to the team for their support trackside and everyone working in Japan and the UK remotely.

“Overall, we are not happy with our performance and our reliability at the moment. However, we are all looking for solutions together in Sakura, Milton Keynes and Silverstone.”

Honda running out of parts in testing is almost inexcusable, as they will only have three hours of practice in Australia before Aston Martin’s first competitive session.

If Alonso or Stroll get out of Q1 in Melbourne, then that has to be seen as a success, as much as Aston Martin won’t want to admit it.