Yeah the more I think about it, it seems harder to just blame Honda. While I don’t claim to know the mechanics of the vibrations, I’d have to think it’s part chassis issue and part engine issue, and it was somewhat bad luck and oversight to not realize the vibrations exist. I would have to imagine that the Honda in another chassis/AM chassis with different engine wouldn’t suffer the same issues, but the fix would probably be all on Honda, as chassis changes would require new crash testing, yes?
Whole situation is pretty wild I think.
Hopefully Honda can get these issues sorted before too many embarrassing retirements. What a shame.
I think AM is as much to blame as Honda. Imagine if instead of the Honda engine it was a Merc engine. You would never blame it on Merc, you’d blame it on AM (unless Merc was having the same issues). We don’t actually know whose fault it is. Maybe Honda made an engine that vibrates too much, maybe AM made a chassis that can’t handle the engine.
IMO it’s a bad look on Newey because AM is on this together with Honda. Not sharing the blame just strains the relationship.
And Newey just came from a team that has used Honda engines (although very different ones) for the last couple of years.
Though given what has been said about Gasly’s history with Newey at RBR, we maybe shouldn’t be surprised that he’s not saying “my bad, my design is partly to blame”.
I like how you guys ignore the 170lb Stroll in the room. AM has never been a serious effort.
Obviously Lance is never going to maximize the cars potential, but I don’t see how it’s his fault that a Newey/Honda designed car can’t finish a race. These are engineering teams with a recent winning history that have utterly failed at preparing for 2026. Papa Stroll spent big money assembling what should be an all star team around his mediocre son, but clearly something is not coming together.
Saying the car is good enough for the top 10 is also shocking. Not long ago Alonso was in the hunt for podiums, not picking up 1 maybe 2 points if things went their way. And now with the engine issues they are basically saying they are out of the fight for points?
I wonder if Alonso will even finish out the season then. If it’s another Honda engine struggle year, picking up a scrap point here or there. By the time they get it all sorted, he will surely be too old to be competitive at the top? On the other hand, he might surprise us by showing he can still show the kids how it’s done.
You could say a similar thing about Williams. Clearly both of these teams can’t escape the midfield with their current resources. And Lawrence has already invested a lot - but compared with the abilities of the top teams, it’s still nothing. And in my personal opinion, an unstable personnel situation could be part of the problem.
Alonso is embarrassing himself in thinking he can win a 3rd title because he managed to beat a nepo baby. There’s a reason the top teams aren’t even looking his way.
