#1 I think that this was scheduled a while ago. Big upgrades take 8-10 weeks. So the parts are ready.V10FURY wrote: ↑21 Mar 2026, 17:04Not sure why they would bother with a large upgrade at Japan and not just wait until Miami to ensure as much work as possible was done to fix the current vibrations / power unit. The upgrade data is meaningless if they can’t even run the car for more than 10 laps at 75% speed. They should have run the Aston Martin car designed last year , before Newey arrived , for the first half of this season to let him have the extra time needed. Then introduce his car by round 9 as the big season upgrade to then tweak it further for a full run at the podiums in 2027. I think if they had done this plan then they would have figured out much sooner that the engine was a turdthat needed major attention. They might be at Williams level already this season and actually finishing races.
If Aston has any fixed in place by the Japanese GP that make any significant difference to their current woes I will be pleasantly surprised. I think Miami is a more realistic timeline to get them finishing a full race distance with both cars , without them shaking apart. Will they be competitive in Miami? Probably only with Cadillac I think, and whichever car at Williams or the other teams has issues.
This year is a complete debacle so the team should solely focus on 2027 with Honda to make sure this is not a 3-4 yearshow for the team. If the engine is fundamentally flawed in design/ execution/harmonics/power/harvesting/and deployment it doesn’t matter what the chassis and aero team can come up with this season. Save the duckets for 2027 and make sure Honda are spending every single Yen on getting this engine package reliable, and powerful for 2027. Otherwise Jonathan Wheatleys first order of business as the new TP might be a call to his old boss at Audi to sign up for their engine packages for 2027. Probably a good idea if they can’t get on top of these issues at Honda by mid season, as Stroll SR is not going to wait years to turn this around.
that needed major attention. They might be at Williams level already this season and actually finishing races. 
show for the team. If the engine is fundamentally flawed in design/ execution/harmonics/power/harvesting/and deployment it doesn’t matter what the chassis and aero team can come up with this season. Save the duckets for 2027 and make sure Honda are spending every single Yen on getting this engine package reliable, and powerful for 2027. Otherwise Jonathan Wheatleys first order of business as the new TP might be a call to his old boss at Audi to sign up for their engine packages for 2027. Probably a good idea if they can’t get on top of these issues at Honda by mid season, as Stroll SR is not going to wait years to turn this around.
#2 Miami is a sprint weekend, Japan is not.
#3 F1Unchained said there are vibration upgrades in the chassis.
#4 He also said, if it isn't fixed for Japan, it probably will not be until Silverstone. He also said that Honda will likely get the >4% behind bonus, will be allowed 2 ICE upgrades and exceed the CAP.
