Alonso has '100%' trust that Honda will get it right despite tough Monza practice

The Italian Grand Prix weekend was always going to be a big test for Aston Martin and Honda given the obvious focus on straight line performance, and after the boost of Fernando Alonso’s hard-earned P9 in Zandvoort everyone in the camp was aware that Monza could be something of a reality check.

Indeed at the end of Friday’s FP2 session the quickest AMR26 of Alonso was down in P19, 2.468s off the quickest time of George Russell. Only the two Cadillacs and his team mate Lance Stroll were behind him, and perhaps most telling was the gap to the rest of the midfield, as Fernando was 1.174s shy of the quickest Williams.

It was a clear sign that Honda’s revised power unit has yet to demonstrate the sort of gains that the team needs to see, despite efforts to address the driveability issues that were apparent both on its race debut at Zandvoort and also at the Budapest filming day that preceded it.

“Obviously we knew it was going to be a difficult Friday, a difficult weekend for us,” Aston Martin’s Pedro de la Rosa said after FP2. “It's more or less what we were expecting after all the work we carried out in the simulator. So yes, it's tough. But on the positive note, we went through the programme quite well, and we managed to try everything we were planning to.

“We shouldn't be surprised about where we are because we knew beforehand, and we said that yesterday – the drivers said that that it was going to be difficult for us. It's very circuit specific at the moment, so there will be some circuits that are better than others, and definitely Monza was one of those that we were not looking forward to.”

Honda learned some useful lessons in Zandvoort, and the need to improve driveability was reflected in a focus on combustion changes ahead of Monza.

“We have observed a step forward in terms of performance on our metrics, as expected,” Honda's Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer Shintaro Orihara said of the Dutch GP.

“We have confirmed on the dyno, so that was positive, things we found in the Netherlands. But on the other hand, we found something which can improve on drivability. We have updated combustion characteristics, and then we prepared a data setting to adapt to new combustion to get better drivability.”

Orihara noted after FP2 that the countermeasures were working well, although the lap times told their own story about how far Honda has to go in order to get on a par with the other manufacturers.

Despite the ongoing frustrations Alonso has faith that the company will return to the level that saw it win World Championships with Red Bull.

“One hundred percent, yes,” the Spaniard said on Thursday. “I think it's a huge commitment from Honda. The facilities we have in Japan are one of the best. I think the personnel and the management of the power unit now has been reinforced, as Honda said, and a lot of people that were in the previous project they are in again on this one. I think I have no doubts, and I trust one hundred percent Honda.

“We just need to shortcut somehow that process. Unfortunately, we started with the wrong foot, and we started with this set of regulations, not at the level that we wanted. But I have no doubts that they will get there.

“And as I said many times, we don't want to wait, you know, five years like they did last time, or six years. We want to do it in two years or three years maximum.”

The Zandvoort result was a welcome boost for the team after a tough season, but Alonso is under no illusions.

“Obviously, we cannot be happy with P9, and I think no one is happy in the team,” the two-time World Champion said. “It was a nice boost for everyone, knowing that at least the direction that we are taking is the right one, because we changed a lot of things in the car since Budapest, and obviously we know or we feel that in the corners we are getting, you know, in a much better place.

“So that gives hope for everyone in Silverstone that if we keep on going on this philosophy and this strategy and this pace of development, eventually we will be one of the fastest on the corners. So we tick one of the boxes.

“Then on the engine side, I think Zandvoort was not a big improvement, to be honest. The driveability was a problem, and the extra power was difficult to feel in Zandvoort.

“Maybe Monza is going to be a truer test for the engine, but still a long way to go, and we need to improve in both ends, in chassis and on engine for next year, and it's a must.”