ispano6 wrote: ↑01 Aug 2026, 18:45
There is always room for improvement, even ourselves. There will be a second gearbox eventually and likely different ratios to consider for next season. There have been sync issues in low speed corners. The clutch also having had issues that caused Lance to DNF would probably be part of an improved design. They probably have figured they just need to make do with what they have and can adjust torque loads of the MGUK to smoothen out the operation. So in effect Honda's PU engineers are accommodating some of the inherent issues.
In doing so, Honda likely ended up not being able to use their desired maps and have to use harvested energy for torque smoothing instead of outright power delivery. Torque smoothing during downshifts requires the MGUK to be used instead of harvesting efficiently. I believe this causes over-heating of the hybrid system particularly the battery and CE. These components have been swapped often for AMR26.
The penalty is the appearance that the Honda PU is incapable of harvesting since it derates early on the straight compared to others. The truth is they aren't able to run the PU optimally regardless of their weak combustion energy. And Alonso did mention Honda accommodated the weaknesses of the AMR side.
Quote from Alonso from theRace:
"The biggest problem for me was the gearbox," he said. "It was impossible to drive. I lost sync in every braking point, I had no acceleration out of the corners, and the downshifts were all over the place, very random.
“Sometimes I had push, sometimes I had rear locking. That was a bad surprise."
There was more of the same on Sunday. And with Canada next on the calendar, Alonso's made it clear this is something Aston Martin - which has developed its own gearbox for the first time since 2008 - must improve.
"It was more the gearbox the whole weekend than the engine," he said.
#1 By AMR F1, I mean Honda as well. I am 100% certain the decision not to bring the new gearbox had Honda's input. I highly doubt Honda said, "We need the new gearbox," and AMR replied, "No, we want the PU to suck!" Either it wasn't ready, or it wasn't necessary.
#2 Like I've said several times, gearboxes need a brief pause in torque to shift gears. When the paddle shifter is pulled, it sends a microsecond torque reduction request to the PU. If that torque pause doesn't happen, the gearbox runs into synchronization problems.
When shifting under full throttle, both the ICE and the MGU-K have to execute the torque reduction together. Under braking, the MGU-K has to do it while charging the battery without affecting brake pedal feel or the amount of braking. This is something Honda has done in the past, but as you know, the amount of power delivery and energy recovery has changed significantly under the 2026 regulations.
Honda has also said that the lack of maturity in the combustion was affecting this. All of this is to say that when a driver says the gearbox has synchronization problems, that's what they're feeling—it doesn't necessarily mean the gearbox itself is the issue. Alonso is an incredibly talented driver, but he isn't an engineer.
Again, I'm not saying this is definitely what's happening. I'm saying maybe. The fact that Honda and AMR chose not to bring the new gearbox points in that direction.
It could also have been as simple as all their data on the old ICE was the with the old gearbox and if you want to compare apples to apples changing only tge ICE gives you that direct comparison.
