The effect of Honda's new countermeasures will not be immediate.

      Shintaro Orihara, the chief engineer and head of the Honda Racing team, stated that Japanese engine specialists have for the first time been given access to the Aston Martin chassis for conducting bench tests at their base in Sakura, and this has been very useful.

      Experts from both companies are in constant contact and closely interacting, trying to understand the causes of the strong vibrations affecting the car and the power unit, which are related to the not-so-successful integration of the engine and chassis.

      According to Orihara, during the bench tests, the problem was partially resolved, although it is unlikely to affect the team's results in Miami: "The break between races was long, but intensive work continued at the bases in Sakura and Silverstone, and in close collaboration with Aston Martin, we managed to achieve a lot.

      At the Japanese Grand Prix, we saw that we were moving in the right direction, and this gave everyone additional motivation. After the race, we had the opportunity for the first time to leave one of the AMR26 chassis at our base for further bench testing, focusing primarily on reducing vibrations and, consequently, increasing reliability.

      Certain progress has been made, allowing for the implementation of new countermeasures, and these solutions will be tested in Miami and at the next stages of the season. However, realistically speaking, it must be acknowledged that this progress will not have a visible effect on the power unit's performance under racing conditions, so significant improvements in results should not be expected.

      The Miami track is the first on the 2026 calendar with many slow corners. It is a unique circuit in its own way, featuring two fast sections and several slow corners – this interesting combination forces compromises in the process of setting up the car.

      Speaking of the power unit, we will try to achieve higher handling parameters in the slow sector, and the key factor will be optimizing energy usage. Additionally, the weekend in Miami will be the first of the season where we can expect truly warm weather, so it will be extremely important to control the temperature regime of the power unit.

      The weekend program includes a sprint, which means there is only one practice session, although it lasts 90 minutes, and during this time, all settings need to be optimized and measures determined to ensure maximum effective cooling. All of this needs to be done before qualifying for the sprint."