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Will the Aston Martin and Honda union ruin Alonso’s career? Not everything is so clear!

Date: March 29, 2024 Time: 07:27:52

The Aston Martin team and Honda announced a partnership: from 2026, the Japanese will supply power plants to the Lawrence Stroll team. For the Canadian billionaire, this is a huge success, because his team has gained factory support from a powerful automaker and will, apparently, become his main team even if Honda has other customers.

However, against the background of this union, the question arises: are Fernando Alonso’s days at Aston Martin really numbered and at the end of 2025 will he end his career? The Japanese at one point flatly refused to cooperate with the Spanish champion following devastating criticism of him while playing for McLaren Honda.

In fact, Honda is not an obstacle, and Fernando has already solved similar problems. The difficulty is elsewhere.

alonso and honda

Relations between Alonso and Honda soured in the second half of the 2010s when the Japanese returned to F1 as an engine supplier for McLaren. Returning to Woking for a new project, Fernando ended up with constant reliability issues, as well as a lack of power.

Once the Spaniard, right in the course of the race, called the Honda power plants “the GP2 engine”. The Japanese were not satisfied with such frankness of the racer, so much so that after the break with McLaren they refused to cooperate with him even in IndyCar.

Three seasons at McLaren-Honda have turned into a nightmare for Alonso

Photo: Lars Baron/Getty Images

However, F-1 is big business, and during Alonso’s return to McLaren, old grievances between him and then-team boss Ron Dennis played no role, although in 2007 the parties did not part well. Now Fernando is one of the best drivers on the grid, he is incredibly stable and doesn’t make mistakes. Is it worth remembering old grievances if the possibility of competing for the championship is at stake?

So Honda Racing Corporation boss Koji Watanabe, immediately after the contract announcement, issued a conciliatory comment: “Fernando is a highly respected racer. The choice of drivers depends on the team, but if we cooperate with Alonso, then there are no objections from us or anything else.

The problem, however, is quite different: by the start of the 2026 season, Alonso will be 44 years old. The last time drivers of this age competed in F-1 was in the 1970s: Jack Brabham was 44 in 1970 and Graham Hill was 45 in 1974. Even Michael Schumacher only made it to 43 for Mercedes, which Fernando would keep in the championship. long enough to start another project with Honda.

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Stroll’s victory

As for Aston Martin, the contract with Honda is a great success for the team. At the moment, cars with these power plants dominate F-1, and before that they won two championships. In the 2026 season, new technical regulations will come into force, so there is a risk of failure, but today’s Honda is not at all what it was in 2015. Now the engineers have the experience and understanding of the details of the “Grand Prix “.

Also, the current technical director of Aston Martin is Dan Fallows, who previously worked at Red Bull and has considerable and, most importantly, successful experience of working with Honda. Against the background of the new base of the team being built, with experienced specialists and a worthy engine to be created under the Aston Martin chassis, Lawrence Stroll has every chance to lead his team to the best teams.

Dan Fallows is one of Aston Martin’s main hopes

Photo: Lars Baron/Getty Images

There will also be no problems finding a replacement for Alonso. Aston Martin is already one of the best teams in the field, and his car is better than, say, Lando Norris’s McLaren. By 2026, Charles Leclerc may be completely disillusioned with Ferrari or George Russell will decide that with Stroll he has a better chance of winning the title than with Mercedes.

One way or another, one can only admire the persistent and consistent way Lawrence Stroll develops the team. When his son made his F1 debut in 2017, it seemed Lawrence was just a sponsor paying handsomely for Lance’s passions, but today’s Aston Martin is already stronger and more financially reliable than Force India in its prime. So even if the Strolls suddenly decide to leave the sport, the team will continue to live on the foundation they laid.

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Puck Henry
Puck Henry
Puck Henry is an editor for ePrimefeed covering all types of news.
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