Lance Stroll believes Honda's upgraded power unit is "not nearly enough" of a step forward after Aston Martin's double Q1 elimination at the Dutch Grand Prix. Both cars dropped out in the first segment of sprint qualifying on Friday, despite optimism over the new engine's first full race weekend.
Fernando Alonso ended up 12th, just a tenth shy of a Q2 spot, while Stroll was a tenth and a half behind his teammate. Stroll acknowledged a slight improvement but insisted it was insufficient. "Maybe a bit, but not nearly enough," he told The Race. "On the chassis side, we're quite good. We made a big step in Budapest. Driveability and power are the next things to work on."
He highlighted persistent engine issues, particularly driveability, which makes the car unpredictable on corner entry. "Not good, not good. It's a lottery. We're not getting consistent engine braking, and there are a lot of rejected downshifts," Stroll explained.
Alonso, however, saw a silver lining, noting the gap to Q1 pacesetter Oscar Piastri had shrunk to 1.3 seconds from an average of 4.5 seconds previously. "We improved three seconds in two races. This is amazing," he said. But he agreed that driveability fixes must come from Honda's Sakura base, with hopes for further gains at Monza.
Starting 18th and 19th, Alonso remains confident for the race due to the car's strong chassis. "Normally we do better on race pace because our chassis is very good. We can do a better job," he concluded.
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