Honda issues add to Aston Martin's woes but Alonso confident they have F1's best chassis

[p]The Silverstone-based team have completed far less mileage ‌than rivals, turning up late for an initial shakedown in Barcelona and then ‌struggling with reliability in the two Bahrain tests.[/p][p]Engine partner Honda ‌said in a statement that a battery-related issue had impacted [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alonso-fernando/rVRhR90U/"]Fernando ‌Alonso[/a]'s stint in the Adrian Newey-designed car on Thursday.[/p][p][b]"Since then, ‌we have been carrying out simulations on the test bench in HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) Sakura. Due to this and a shortage of power unit ‌parts, we have adapted today's (Friday's) run plan ⁠to be very limited and ‌consist only of short stints."[/b][/p][p]Canadian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/stroll-lance/I3p9zz4s/"]Lance Stroll[/a], who was due to be ​in the car all day and whose father Lawrence controls the team, appeared on track for an installation ​lap just before the lunchtime break but failed to set a time. That compared to Ferrari's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/leclerc-charles/KlCOSRub/"]Charles Leclerc[/a], who was fastest, doing ⁠80 laps.[/p][p][b]"We are not ​where we wanted to be. We have not done many laps but we have an enormous amount of data for Australia,"[/b] team director Pedro de la Rosa told Sky Sports television.[/p][embed guid="bc212a9c-478f-4fd8-99c8-31fc9d5feb44" url="https://x.com/AstonMartinF1/status/2024797477174481164" social-type="twitter" /][p]Alonso told ‌reporters on Thursday that he had no doubt about Newey's abilities.[/p][p]"We need to unlock more performance," said the double world champion. "We're still going step-by-step into the car. We are a little bit on the back foot, we have to admit that, but hopefully there is time to improve.[/p][p][b]"On the chassis, there is no doubt, we have the best with us. After 30-plus years of Adrian Newey dominating the sport, I think no one ‌will doubt that we will find a way to have the ​best car eventually,"[/b] added the Spaniard.[/p][p][b]"On the power unit, ‌we need to wait and see when we unlock all the performance, where we are and what is missing, and then work hard."[/b][/p][p]Luxury sportscar maker Aston Martin earlier suffered a more than 4% drop in its share price after ⁠warning of a bigger annual ⁠loss than the market ‌expected.[/p][p]The F1 season starts in Australia on March 8.[/p]