Aston Martin pushes, Alonso improves... until power unit reliability issues resurface

Aston Martin turned up the intensity, and Fernando Alonso immediately found nearly two seconds compared to last week’s times thanks to a series of short runs on Pirelli’s C3 tire. For a moment, it looked like the AMR26 had finally shown signs of life—just 2.8 seconds off Leclerc’s Ferrari.

But it was only an illusion.

After 28 laps, Alonso headed back to the garage and never returned to the track due to a Honda power‑unit failure. Every time the team tries to push the car harder, reliability becomes a problem.

Speaking to the media afterward, Alonso didn’t reveal the exact issue but didn’t hide the team’s struggles: “It’s a difficult start, no doubt. There are many things to fix over the next two and a half days, but everyone is working at 100 percent, both factories in the U.K. and Japan,” he said.

Looking ahead, he added: “Everything can be fixed—short or medium term. Nothing is impossible. We need to solve as much as we can before Australia and then in the first races, before it’s too late in the championship. But I’m optimistic; there’s a solution in the works.”

Krack admits the team is behind

Trackside engineering director Mike Krack didn’t sugarcoat the situation: “First of all, we arrived late. We saw it in Barcelona. We weren’t ready, even if we went out on track. Something similar happened at the start of this test. We’ve had many small issues that prevent us from running all areas of the car.”

He pointed out that Aston Martin is integrating new electronics partners, a new gearbox, new suspension components, and more: “It would be easier if we only had one problem to fix. The delay put us in a tough spot—we’ve logged a third fewer laps than our rivals, and that puts us behind. We have to be realistic. We need to catch up, and no one is going to wait for us.”

Meanwhile, the big teams look ready to race

While Aston Martin struggles, the top teams look like they’re already prepared for a Grand Prix weekend.

Charles Leclerc topped the morning session with a 1:33.739, already faster than his times from last week and close to Antonelli’s benchmark from Friday. Lando Norris finished three‑tenths back, and the young Italian four‑tenths behind him.

They don’t need more testing. They’re ready.

Cadillac also suffers, and the gap widens

At the back of the field, Cadillac—the apparent tail‑ender—also ran into reliability trouble. Sergio Pérez barely completed any laps early in the day, and when he finally did, they were short runs with uncompetitive times, roughly seven seconds off Ferrari, despite sharing the same engine.

The new regulations are widening the gaps across the grid.

With the wind finally gone from Sakhir, only sun and heat remain—meaning the track surface gets even hotter during the middle of the day, adding another layer of difficulty for teams already struggling.

Bahrain test classification

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