Aston Martin and its engine partner Honda insist it is drilling down into the problems that have beset the AMR26 since its introduction – but the car remains at least two seconds off the pace in qualifying.
Reliability was an early bugbear, delaying work in understanding the car and debugging various other problematic elements of the powertrain, including vibrations through the chassis, and abrupt gearshifting and engine braking. After a fraught Miami Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso declared these latter elements the "number one" priority fix required for Canada, given the point-and-squirt nature of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's layout.
