Fernando Alonso should already know what to expect from Honda at F1 testing after 2015 disaster

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Fernando Alonso is about to embark on a significant new adventure at the ripe old age of 44, as Formula 1 enters a new era.

2026 will mark 25 years of the Spaniard racing at the highest level, after he made his debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix for Minardi.

Nowadays, he’s with the Aston Martin outfit, who are eager to force themselves into championship contention following years of investing in their infrastructure.

Alonso is the man to lead them there with his on-track experience alone, but he’s going to need some assistance from his Adrian Newey-designed car.

Fill in the blank: Fernando Alonso’s talent deserves _ F1 titles

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Alonso will love Honda’s unusual announcement, which suggests that they’re already full of confidence heading into the new season.

Having worked with him before, Honda are ‘well aware’ of Alonso’s demands and know what to expect from him over the next few years.

READ MORE: The FIA have accidentally given one F1 team a ‘head start’ over Mercedes for the 2026 season

Fernando Alonso should be wary that Honda started 2015 seven seconds off the pace

Fans are worried about an Alonso ‘failure’, and they have every right to be, given the track record of teams starting new regulations with such ambitious projects.

One of the most recent examples came in 2015, when Alonso was part of McLaren’s big new engine deal with Honda.

At the time, they had joined with one year less experience than their rivals had, and were a bit behind. Looking back, that’s a bit of an understatement.

On the final day of the first pre-season test, Jenson Button was seven seconds off the pace set by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, and four behind the next nearest car in Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat.

Teams have reiterated that the first test is for reliability and not performance in 2026, which means that fans shouldn’t be too alarmed if a similar situation unfolds this time.

With the budget cap and other measures, the cars are generally much closer compared to the start of the turbo-hybrid era, but the lack of pace is something Alonso will still need to be wary of.

READ MORE: Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso told ‘invisible’ F1 issue will stop them fighting for wins in 2026

What did the timings look like at the first test of the 2015 F1 season?

The 2015 pre-season wasn’t just a bad time for McLaren, it was torrid. Alonso would have a crash at Barcelona that actually ruled him out for the first race of the season in Australia.

Looking at the running order from the end of test one, it’s an important reminder of just how skewed the running order might look after the first five days of 2026 track action.

Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson found himself second overall, and ahead of the championship-winning duo of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

Meanwhile, Red Bull were the second slowest, and were far from that throughout the campaign. Two teams (Manor and Caterham) did not make the first test.