Lance Stroll has launched a scathing critique of the Honda power unit's performance in his Aston Martin. Following a disappointing qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix, the Canadian driver described the engine's drivability as 'not good' and 'a lottery'.
Aston Martin brought Honda's updated power unit to Zandvoort this weekend. The engine previously had a track debut during a filming day in Hungary last month. However, its first race weekend outing proved underwhelming, with both Aston Martin drivers failing to escape Q1, in both sprint and main qualifying.
Stroll, who qualified 19th, believes the chassis is 'quite good', but insists the engine's power and drivability remain far from where they need to be. "Maybe a bit, but not nearly enough," he said when asked if the new engine brought any gains.
"On the chassis side, I think we're quite good. We made a big step in Budapest. The drivability and the power is the next thing we need to really work on." When pressed on the drivability, Stroll added: "Not good, not good. It's a lottery. Right now, we're just not getting the consistent engine braking going into the corner and a lot of rejected downshifts. So, yeah, a lot of issues."
His teammate, Fernando Alonso, who will start from 18th, viewed the positive side, noting it was 'amazing' to be just over a second off the best time in Q1. Nevertheless, he echoed Stroll's comments on Honda's power unit but does not expect any fix until the Italian Grand Prix.
"Unfortunately, here on the track side, there is not much we can do. We need to rely on some big changes in the factory or software or whatever is needed. This has to come from Japan, so it's not from one day to the next. It's more towards Monza where we need to find another step there. There are a couple of tenths to optimise in the package," explained Alonso.
Aston Martin's difficult Zandvoort weekend comes after it introduced a B-spec upgrade package in Hungary. Alonso made Q2 for the first time in 2026, while Stroll scored his best grand prix result of the campaign. However, the failure in the Netherlands shows that a significant amount of work still awaits the Japanese manufacturer.
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