Mike Krack was clear from the outset: there is no celebration. But in Formula 1, context is everything, and for Aston Martin and Honda, Fernando Alonso crossing the finish line at Suzuka represented the first genuine milestone of a season that had been, until now, largely a fight to survive.

The 2026 start for the Aston-Honda partnership was among the most difficult in recent memory for a team with serious ambitions. An uncompetitive engine, chronic reliability issues, and vibrations that affected not only the power unit’s performance but also transmitted through to the chassis and the drivers themselves. In Melbourne, they completed six laps. In Shanghai, they managed to get through practice sessions but with enormous effort. At Suzuka, for the first time, the cars could be prepared normally between sessions — and Alonso completed the race, even if it was in eighteenth place, a lap down on the leader.

Lance Stroll was not as fortunate, retiring with a water leak on the internal combustion engine. The team’s target had been to finish the race with both cars — they managed half of it. “The mood in the team is no celebration, that is clear,” said Krack. “But when you look back, in Melbourne we discussed doing six laps. In Shanghai we managed two sessions with a lot of work. This was one small step on a list with many, many small steps to be done. But as a team you cannot destroy yourself. We need to take the positives.”

The problem is that the positives are thin when measured against the rest of the field. Despite bringing their first upgrade package to Japan, Alonso finished well behind Sergio Pérez in the Cadillac — the grid’s newest arrival. That reveals something uncomfortable: while other teams have been able to exploit and develop their launch packages, Aston has been stuck in damage control mode — fighting fires rather than building performance.

The deficit is not only in the engine. Krack was candid about it: “On the chassis side, I think we need to be honest that the performance deficit we have, we have our part in that. We are not great in high-speed corners, we are not on the weight limit. So there is stuff we have to work on hard going forward.” An admission that is unusual in Formula 1 — and one that speaks of a team willing to look at itself honestly without deflection.

The steering wheel vibrations that caused Alonso’s retirement in China remain unresolved. A potential tweak appeared to help during Friday practice at Suzuka, but the team “couldn’t race with it.” Krack hopes that by Miami, with five weeks available, the issue can be definitively addressed.

Those five weeks — the product of the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix — represent the most important development window Aston Martin and Honda have had since the season began. But Krack harbors no illusions: “We will not close the gap come Miami, but we will try everything to reduce it. We must not forget that F1 is not standing still, our competitors will also work hard. There is no magic recipe.”

The mountain is real. Aston Martin has just found the first foothold.

Thumbnail: By courtesy of Pirelli