Honda saw ‘positive signs’ from AMR26 as Fernando Alonso delivers season-best performance

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It was the best weekend for Fernando Alonso so far this season, and Honda believe he reaped the reward of their work on the power unit.

Few would have expected Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin to turn things around the way that they did at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.

Alonso managed to finish top 10 in FP1, perhaps the most surprising result of the session, given how poor Aston Martin had been at the start of the season.

Then, during sprint qualifying, Alonso stunned everyone by reaching SQ2, the best qualifying result across any session for either Aston Martin driver.

And it appears this performance did not go unnoticed, as Honda GM Shintaro Orihara claimed that it proved that the hard work of everyone at the Sakura factory paid off.

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Honda GM says Aston Martin avoided ‘major problems’ at Canadian GP

Speaking to Autosport Web, Honda trackside GM Shintaro Orihara noted that the team’s goal was to get the best out of the power unit ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

And with the work they put in, Honda officials saw some genuine improvement and positive signs from the AMR26’s performance, even though they admitted that more work needed to be done.

“For the Canadian GP, we have been working with HRC Sakura on two challenges: optimising energy management and improving drivability.

“Regarding energy management, we started with careful settings based on simulation results and made adjustments as we ran more sessions, allowing us to optimise throughout the sessions.

“We did not see any major problems in free practice or sprint qualifying, and the data also shows positive signs in terms of drivability.

“It’s not enough yet, but we can see the direction we should be heading, so we will continue to make improvements.”

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Aston Martin could finally compete in the second half of the grid this weekend

Despite this improvement from them, Aston Martin are effectively in pre-season testing mode right now, given how poorly they started this season.

Any improvements they can make as the season goes on will help them massively to try and catch up as best they can to the rest of the grid.

As things stand, Adrian Newey is overhauling the AMR26 with the goal of getting the car ready in time for the Belgian Grand Prix in July.

If Aston Martin can continue showing the level of improvement they have shown in the last two races, then they can make some significant progress before the end of the season.