Gary Anderson thinks Aston Martin’s ‘custom’ Honda battery issue might not be solved for months

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Former Jordan chief designer Gary Anderson has explained why Aston Martin’s issue with Honda’s batteries could take months to resolve at the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Aston Martin find themselves in an uncomfortable predicament after completing just 64 laps between their two drivers in Australia.

Lance Stroll was unable to run during FP3 and qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix due to concerns that the team would run out of batteries, while Fernando Alonso retired from the race in Melbourne to ‘preserve components’.

Higher or lower: Aston Martin will complete 20 laps in the Chinese Grand Prix before their first retirement

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It was reported that Honda’s batteries were failing ‘en masse’ during testing, and with teams expected to only use two batteries across an entire season per driver, Adrian Newey’s outfit could already be facing grid penalties at this stage of the campaign.

Gary Anderson has now explained why, although battery technology has come a long way in recent years, Honda still face an uphill battle to fix exactly what’s gone wrong in their development.

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

Honda can’t outsource battery components for Aston Martin due to minute manufacturing differences

Anderson was asked on The Race F1 Tech Show whether Aston Martin could stock up on batteries to help solve the fact that they keep failing, or whether they’re bespoke parts created by the teams.

He said: “Well, it’s not just quite as simple as the battery pack.

“I mean, obviously, what we heard about Honda was this vibration that was affecting the battery, which could be affecting it in many ways.

“But as far as the battery packs are concerned, they’re one of these things, the cells themselves will not necessarily be the same for each manufacturer, but they will be typically very similar because you pursue the best cell package for your car.

“They’re custom size, I think there are many manufacturers out there that make cells in all the sizes that you want. Some of them have got more density than the others, but only by fractions of a per cent.

“Battery technology has come a long way, so the days of getting a bigger battery cell to put into your battery pack are long gone.

“I don’t think Honda can go out and get a better battery pack that would suit their car.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin F1 team principal Adrian Newey

Mike Krack shuts down talk about Aston Martin’s Honda battery issue

Speaking in his official pre-race press conference, chief trackside officer Mike Krack was asked about the Honda battery situation and said: “I think we should not… What is the point if we go on about the number of batteries?

“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.”

Honda’s trackside general manager, Shintaro Orihara added: “We are trying to repair the battery.

“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.”

The sooner that Honda can fix the vibrating issue that they’re facing, the better, as this will improve the reliability of the rest of their parts and allow Aston Martin to collect more crucial data.

Alonso is privately becoming more and more frustrated, and even if Aston Martin are beginning to become more competitive by the halfway point of the season, he’ll still be a long way behind his ultimate goals for this year.

Whether he continues into 2027 is yet to be seen, but will likely be determined by the progress made by Aston Martin and Honda in the next few months.