A Second And A Half In Australia Thanks To The Returns!

Alonso Reveals the Secret of Advancement: A Second and a Half in Australia Thanks to the Laps!

The Asturian driver, despite the 17th position, celebrates the improvement and points to Honda's reliability as the key to unleashing the car's potential.

The Australian Grand Prix has been a whirlwind of emotions and challenges for Fernando Alonso and his team. Starting from a complicated situation, the Spanish driver has achieved a significant improvement, going from **4.9 seconds** off the best time to just **2.4 seconds**. This progress, although not enough to reach Q2, is indicative of the work done and the latent potential of the car. The initial problems of drivers like **Verstappen**, **Sainz** and the unfortunate **Stroll**, who could not even participate in qualifying due to a failure in his **Honda** engine, created a scenario of uncertainty that Alonso knew how to navigate.

The final position of **17th** is nothing to celebrate in itself, but progress on the stopwatch is what really matters. Fernando Alonso has used this improvement to emphasize the need for **Honda** to address its power unit reliability issues once and for all. The Spaniard is convinced of the success of the aerodynamic concept designed by **Adrian Newey**, but to get the most out of it, it is crucial to understand the car and how to get the most out of it. This is only achieved by riding, accumulating data and testing configurations, something that until now has been undermined by the persistent vibrations of the **Honda** engine, which even affect the batteries.

“It has been difficult. There is no secret. We know the position we are in and the challenge we have ahead of us, and well, every day we are learning things. We still have the same power unit as yesterday, having the same power deficit as yesterday. And yesterday we were I think 4 seconds and something and today we were 3. **We have not changed anything, we have only improved a second and a half because we have been able to lap, something we have not been able to do either throughout the winter or in FP1.** We know about the potential of the car, We need a little reliability to unlock the full potential of the chassis and then it will take much longer to unlock the power of the engine,” Alonso explained after the session.

The driver has detailed how each lap is an opportunity to reveal the hidden potential of the chassis. In Bahrain, despite completing between **40 and 50 laps**, the runs were interrupted by the power unit, preventing continuous development. In Australia, with one and a half sessions of effective work, the improvement has been **one and a half seconds**, which demonstrates the room for progression. Alonso estimates that with three or four “normal” grands prix, another second of chassis performance could be unlocked, simply by riding more and understanding the dynamics of the car.

However, the challenge does not end there. Once the reliability problems have been resolved, the next major obstacle will be to increase engine power to get closer to the leading teams, who, without a doubt, will continue to evolve. “But once that was fixed, we would still have almost two seconds left, which seem difficult to recover,” acknowledged the two-time world champion.

Sunday's race is presented as a litmus test for the team. The chances of not finishing are high, since there are only **two of the four batteries** available for the weekend, one for each car. Any incident that jeopardizes the next meeting in China, which takes place the following week, must be avoided at all costs.

“Plan for the race? Look at the situation a little, see how we are doing in the race. Surely, it is no secret that we do not have spare parts for the batteries, so at the slightest abnormal data that you see in the telemetry we will have to stop the car to be able to race in China,” Alonso admitted.

Despite the difficulties, the possibility of adding laps in the race is crucial. It will allow valuable data to be collected to better understand **Newey**'s car and fine-tune its development. Alonso sends a message of unity towards **Honda**, despite the frustration over the lack of reliability: “Yes, without a doubt. We have China next week. Only one practice session, because then we are going to the sprint time trial. So what we can learn tomorrow and what we learn in FP1 in China will dictate us next weekend as well, time trial and race. **So it is important tomorrow to continue knowing the car and be united. We know that we have this challenge ahead of us and there is “We have to face it together**.”

Finally, Alonso cleared up any doubts about the persistence of vibrations from the **Honda** engine, confirming with a resounding “**no**” that the Japanese firm's emergency objective for this first GP of the season has not been met.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What was Fernando Alonso's improvement in the Australian GP classification?
Fernando Alonso improved his time by **one and a half seconds**, going from 4.9 seconds to 2.4 seconds off the best time.

What main problem afflicts Fernando Alonso's team?
The main problem is the **lack of reliability** of the **Honda** power unit, which generates vibrations and limits the rolling of the car.

Why couldn't Lance Stroll participate in qualifying?
Lance Stroll was unable to participate due to a **failure in the Honda combustion engine**.

How many batteries are left for the race?
The team has **two batteries left**, one for each car, of the initial four.

How important is racing in the race for Alonso?
Racing is crucial to **accumulate data**, understand the car and be able to develop it.

What objective does Honda have for this GP?
**Honda**'s urgent objective was to eliminate engine vibrations, something that has not been achieved.

What does it mean that “unlocking the chassis” is different from “unlocking the engine power”?
Unlocking the chassis refers to improving the aerodynamic performance and dynamics of the car through break-in and understanding. Unlocking the engine's power means increasing the raw power of **Honda's** engine, which is a bigger challenge.

How does unreliability affect batteries?
**Honda** engine vibrations damage batteries, limiting their use and increasing the risk of problems.

What challenges does the next Chinese GP present?
The Chinese GP will only have one free practice session before the **time trial**, which reduces the time to learn and develop the car.

What final message did Fernando Alonso send?
Fernando Alonso called for **unity** to face the challenges ahead, working together with **Honda**.

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