Due to all the problems with this year’s Aston Martin car Fernando Alonso missed the entire first practice session. Lance Stroll wasn’t able to finish second practice and completely missed third practice because of a suspected Internal Combustion Engine issue. Newey also revealed that only two of the four Honda batteries remained operational, those two in cars driven by Alonso and Stroll.

Despite all these problems, Newey sees great potential in their car. As he explained, their goal while building the car was to concentrate on having a good, sound architectural package. By that he meant the parts that cannot be easily changed during season. According to his words, he believes they achieved that and didn’t miss anything. Therefore he thinks the car has a tremendous development potential.

Newey spoke to the media ahead of the race weekend in Melbourne alongside Honda Racing boss Koji Watanabe: “On the chassis side, I think it’s well known that we faced a very condensed period of development. We didn’t get a model into the windtunnel until mid-April, so quite a long way behind our competitors. That’s just a fact of life.” admitted Newey.

 “So, I think it’s fair to say that here in Melbourne, we are a bit behind the leaders. Probably I would say we’re maybe the fifth-best team, so sort of potential Q3 qualifiers, on the chassis side. Obviously, not where we want to be, but with the potential to be up front at some point in the season.” he added. Of course, it will take a few races to get to the car’s potential, but Newey confirms that they have quite aggressive development plan underway.