Brundle: Lawrence Stroll 'at his wit's end' as Aston Martin reliability crisis drags on

Aston Martin's season-long reliability crisis shows no sign of easing after Lance Stroll retired from the Brazilian Grand Prix with another battery failure — his 14th DNF of the campaign. Martin Brundle says team owner Lawrence Stroll is now "at his wit's end" over the problem, while engine partner Honda admits it still cannot identify the root cause.

Why it matters:

The recurring failures are undoing real progress. Aston Martin sits 10th in the Constructors' Championship, five points behind Williams, and every retirement is costing the team a chance to close that gap with one triple-header left in 2026.

The details:

• Brundle, speaking on Sky F1, said Lawrence Stroll "doesn't know what to do about these endless reliability issues and non-finishes," questioning whether the team needs different ideas or different people to fix the battery pack, ERS and overall power deficit.
• Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara confirmed investigations are ongoing after Stroll's battery trouble struck twice at Interlagos, with the cause still "unknown" and potentially "a few weeks" from being found.
• The upside came from Fernando Alonso, who reached Q3 for the first time this season and turned it into P12 — including a pass on former teammate Lewis Hamilton in changeable conditions.
• Mike Krack called it one of the team's most competitive weekends of the year, but acknowledged five DNFs across the last six races as the obvious counterweight.

What's next:

Preventing the battery gremlins from bleeding into the 2027 package is now a stated priority for Honda, and the clock is ticking. Aston Martin have genuine pace in the AMR26 — the Constructors' fight with Williams would look very different with a reliable car underneath it.