Fernando Alonso retires from Azerbaijan GP amid engine dispute

Fernando Alonso retired from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after experiencing what he believed to be engine issues. During the race, the Aston Martin driver reported a significant loss of speed on the straights, noting a time loss of approximately 1.5 seconds. Alonso stated that the machine felt abnormal and expressed a need to investigate the cause of the performance drop.

However, a disagreement has emerged between the driver and engine supplier Honda. Shintaro Orihara, General Manager and Chief Manager of Honda Racing, stated that current data shows no issues with the engine. While Honda plans to conduct thorough inspections of engine output, energy management, and GPS data both at the track and back at the factory, they maintain that the data does not indicate a mechanical failure.