Obviously Lance is never going to maximize the cars potential, but I don’t see how it’s his fault that a Newey/Honda designed car can’t finish a race. These are engineering teams with a recent winning history that have utterly failed at preparing for 2026. Papa Stroll spent big money assembling what should be an all star team around his mediocre son, but clearly something is not coming together.
I think AM is as much to blame as Honda. Imagine if instead of the Honda engine it was a Merc engine. You would never blame it on Merc, you’d blame it on AM (unless Merc was having the same issues). We don’t actually know whose fault it is. Maybe Honda made an engine that vibrates too much, maybe AM made a chassis that can’t handle the engine.
IMO it’s a bad look on Newey because AM is on this together with Honda. Not sharing the blame just strains the relationship.
And Newey just came from a team that has used Honda engines (although very different ones) for the last couple of years.
Though given what has been said about Gasly’s history with Newey at RBR, we maybe shouldn’t be surprised that he’s not saying “my bad, my design is partly to blame”.
Hopefully Honda can get these issues sorted before too many embarrassing retirements. What a shame.
I like how you guys ignore the 170lb Stroll in the room. AM has never been a serious effort.
Obviously Lance is never going to maximize the cars potential, but I don’t see how it’s his fault that a Newey/Honda designed car can’t finish a race. These are engineering teams with a recent winning history that have utterly failed at preparing for 2026. Papa Stroll spent big money assembling what should be an all star team around his mediocre son, but clearly something is not coming together.
I think AM is as much to blame as Honda. Imagine if instead of the Honda engine it was a Merc engine. You would never blame it on Merc, you’d blame it on AM (unless Merc was having the same issues). We don’t actually know whose fault it is. Maybe Honda made an engine that vibrates too much, maybe AM made a chassis that can’t handle the engine.
IMO it’s a bad look on Newey because AM is on this together with Honda. Not sharing the blame just strains the relationship.
And Newey just came from a team that has used Honda engines (although very different ones) for the last couple of years.
Though given what has been said about Gasly’s history with Newey at RBR, we maybe shouldn’t be surprised that he’s not saying “my bad, my design is partly to blame”.