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Jolyon Palmer loved that Aston Martin started Fernando Alonso on soft tyres at the Australian Grand Prix.
For the opening round of the 2026 Formula 1 season, there were low expectations for Aston Martin after their difficult pre-season at Barcelona and Bahrain.
It has been widely reported that Aston Martin have been struggling with power unit issues during testing, which has led to the AMR26 suffering from major vibration issues.
The vibration issues have led to two further problems for Aston Martin as their drivers have feared permanent nerve damage, and the team are suffering from reliability issues as they are down to their last available batteries for their Honda power unit.
During the Australian Grand Prix weekend, Adrian Newey confirmed that Aston Martin will not receive more batteries from Honda at the Chinese Grand Prix, which means their reliability issues will continue for a second weekend.
How disappointed should Aston Martin be with their Australian Grand Prix performance?
Palmer loved that Aston Martin allowed Alonso to ‘have fun’
During the Channel 4 broadcast of the 2026 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, Jolyon Palmer admitted that he loved the strategy that Aston Martin put Fernando Alonso on soft tyres from the start.
The former Formula 1 driver believes that the strategy Aston Martin selected allowed Alonso to ‘have fun’ and race with the cars around him at the start of the race.
Despite signs of early progress from Alonso on the soft tyres, the Spaniard ended up not finishing the opening Grand Prix of the season after he retired from the race after 21 laps.
Palmer said, “I love that Aston Martin put Fernando on softs to start from the back. Go and have fun, and start racing with the guys around you. He has made a bit of progress early on.”
Have Aston Martin already ‘completely ruined’ their relationship with Honda?
The relationship between Aston Martin and Honda must change
All the fingers are being pointed at Honda for the troubles that Aston Martin have experienced during the early stages of the 2026 season and the new Formula 1 regulations.
After qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso was quick to suggest that without the Honda engine, he would be inside the top ten in the Aston Martin.
It has been noted from outside of the Aston Martin camp that they have been quick to ‘throw Honda under the bus’ as broadcaster Will Buxton pointed out the quotes coming from Aston Martin.
Honda have admitted that things cannot ‘stay the same’ after their poor start to the year, and Koji Watanabe believes Honda needs to ‘accelerate’ their development.
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