Alonso: The next ten races will also be difficult.

      Fernando Alonso starts in Suzuka from the last row, which has not happened very often in his long career. There’s no point in recalling his debut season with Minardi, unlike 2015, when Honda became the engine supplier for the McLaren team. Of course, this happened later as well, but mainly during the period when the two-time world champion was driving cars powered by this company's engines.

      And now, ten years later, he is dealing with Japanese power units again, but at a completely different point in the history of Formula 1 and already with Aston Martin. No one doubts Honda's ability to build quality engines; the question is: how long will it take for the products of the racing division of the automotive giant to become fully competitive?

      No one knows the exact answer, and for now, the two-time world champion is forced to grimly state: "To be honest, not much has changed compared to the first two races. It's still the same car, and the difficulties are the same. We expected something like this since Suzuka is not the best track for us, and I foresee that the challenges will continue for the next few months.

      I don't expect any significant improvements, but at the same time, both bases in Silverstone and Sakura are searching for various solutions that, in theory, promise decent results. But in Formula 1, there are no miracles; everything takes time, and races happen every two weeks, and we don't have that time. So we have to be patient.

      We are still most hindered by vibrations. Although yesterday the feeling behind the wheel was almost normal, there were almost no vibrations. Compared to the tests and the first two races, they decreased by 80%, and I was already pleased. But this morning, when I got back behind the wheel, I felt the same strong vibrations. At the same time, we didn't change anything in the car, so it was hard to understand why this happened.

      We plan to analyze everything we did with the car yesterday to find out if something was done that allowed us to reduce the level of vibrations. It seems there is some element of randomness in all of this. We'll check tomorrow.

      But so far, the Japanese weekend is turning out to be tough, and the next ten races will also be difficult; I can say that already now. I hope at least the second half of the season will be better. I would prefer to be in a situation similar to that of the McLaren team, which also has significant difficulties but has a fast car...

      The April break in the championship will not affect us too much. We will simply avoid the prospect of finishing last in two races. We cannot work any harder, as we are already using literally every hour for this, and we have a plan of action. In Miami, we will have almost the same car, although we still hope that some solutions will be found in the coming months."

      Alonso also took the opportunity to express his views on the 2026 regulations: "Suzuka is no longer such a challenging track; you could say we no longer notice those corners. The same applies to the fast corners of Melbourne's Albert Park or the track in Jeddah, or Eau Rouge in Spa. Many other corners on the championship tracks will also seem to disappear.

      This is the new Formula 1, and now fast corners have become points where the battery is recharged. On the straights, the power unit delivers more power, but because of this, we do not attack at full strength in the corners, which is frustrating."