00:01Fernando Alonso has come to a stop you can see the new warning lights on the
00:06wing mirrors illuminating and Fernando Alonso's race run has been halted Aston
00:13Martin again having a tough moment in a pre-season full of them and he comes to
00:19a halt on the exit of turn number four to bring out the yellow flag initially
00:25and two-time world champion out of the car and he's running interrupted I gave the
00:34good news with the bad news a moment ago but the good news has turned into bad
00:37news as well he's no longer out there running it just gets worse for Aston
00:41Martin
00:45it's got to be just so much concern I think they're embracing it the team how
00:48tough this start of the season is going to be
00:51for a 44 year old turning 45 in the summer in the hopes of fighting for
00:56another title they seem distant right now to say the least 25 laps for Fernando
01:03Alonso in that run had a racing pit stop in between as well it's shades of his
01:12McLaren Honda stint right now isn't it no I hope not but you're absolutely you have
01:18to draw the comparison let's have a listen in
01:35it's gone early hasn't it
01:39it's on the radio through
01:51that is the end of his race run simulation Sam I've got two observations that first one
01:57you can see on screen I think Alonso's got a special fairing on his helmet to
02:01elongate it a bit more I don't remember them running that last year so I think
02:04they've changed that just for aero reasons you can see on top of his head
02:07there quite clearly also listening to that and I'm sure Jolyon can add in on
02:11this that rev and lack of drive to the rear wheel says to me quite clearly that's
02:16something in the transmission that's gone crunch and isn't working very well at
02:21all it sounds like a drive shaft or the clutch or the gearbox itself has failed it
02:25doesn't sound like the power unit has actually had an issue because you could
02:29hear it quite clearly revving away very freely Honda clearly has got the revs but it
02:33can't transmit them to the rear wheels yeah I think he's I think he's felt something on
02:38the way into turn one he's straight away got on the radio as you would and said what's
02:43going on and then he's carried on backed off bearing in mind he was on a race run
02:47backed off it and then it's it's obviously gone clunk and he's got a load of revs with
02:52no drive bearing in mind Lance Stroll had his had his strange spin yesterday Aston
02:57Martin manufacturing their own gearbox for this year yeah they've gone away from taking the the
03:03Mercedes gearbox they've not got a Mercedes power unit it's all in-house and it's another headache
03:09for them power unit gearbox chassis the headaches are everywhere Fernando Alonso by the side of the
03:19track and not completing more laps behind the wheel of his Aston Martin as the team had hoped that would
03:23be the case driver who Adrian knew he said he wanted to work with hadn't worked with Lewis Hamilton
03:29hadn't worked with Fernando Alonso the move to Aston Martin enabling that to happen but a combination of
03:36factors at the moment limiting their testing running and you say it's reminiscent of his stint with
03:41McLaren Honda when he tried to and he hoped that he'd be able to enjoy the glory days that those
03:49two
03:50brands had enjoyed in the past just didn't work out so that was that was uh 2015 when Honda came
03:57back they were a year late to the regs and to the to the hybrid engines so McLaren went from
04:02Mercedes
04:03to Honda much like Aston Martin to go from Mercedes to Honda this time Honda are here for the start
04:07of
04:08the new regulations but they are admittedly a little bit on the back foot because they they dwindled
04:12down their their program with Red Bull and then realize they actually do want to stay in with this
04:16this uh this new generation of car it famously didn't go well I'm not going to repeat the quotes
04:22that came out at the time but they are very repeatable uh Fernando not getting on so well with uh
04:28with McLaren and Honda at the time he's since patched up those relationships and here he is driving an
04:34Aston Martin Honda underpowered poor reliability hence no performance and no no mileage to try and get on
04:45top of it with the issues and he was left fighting me in 2016 to 2017 which I don't think
04:50is that is
04:51the aim of a double world champion to be frank uh I didn't know where that was going but I
04:55didn't
04:55think it would go in that direction but hey let's let's try and put a little positive spin on it
05:01for
05:01Aston Martin the 10-year plan if they'd have stayed at it McLaren and Honda in the 10-year cycle
05:10Honda became multiple champions with Red Bull and hey presto McLaren became champions as well maybe
05:16it was a partnership that needed time like Aston Martin Honda right now will uh will surely need
05:21time they both did in the end pick up the titles but it was a long old slog from uh
05:27from those 2015
05:282016 years yeah it really was and Fernando Alonso's talent wasn't able to be on display
05:35until he returned to the team that he took to eight podiums fantastic to see him back in battling
05:42memorable drag race to the line with Sergio Perez in Brazil just an old master back at the wheel and
05:49back in the mix had a chance to win the Monaco Grand Prix if a strategic decision had gone the
05:54other
05:56way and hopes of similar appearances this year are long gone even though it's day two of test two
06:04and there is his car static it means their rate of improvement will be rapid across the course of
06:10this year it is a season that ends in December there's a long time to go in Formula One 2026
06:16but
06:17really tough tough moments uh the red flag was out all the cars come back to the pit
06:21we await message from race control about when we'll get things back underway again
06:27apologies to Bernie Collins who was standing by trackside to give us to the uh appearance of what
06:35was going on at turns one and two sorry about that Bernie we were coming to you and then the
06:40Aston Martin
06:40uh coming to a halt no one's going near that car which lays stricken on the on the side of
06:48the road
06:53as Fernando walking back to the garage Sam no one going near the car yeah there's one clear reason
06:58for that you could see the lights were still flashing on the car long after Fernando had departed in his
07:03Mustang the reason the lights were flashing is that the car still energized which means there's still
07:08charge in the battery the hybrid system is probably still energized and in those situations you can't go
07:16near and just touch the car that you need to have special procedures you need here you see the team
07:20members are coming out they're putting on that what we call the marigolds they look like washing up
07:25gloves and that's essentially what they are that's to insulate the mechanic or whoever's going to touch
07:30the car from the battery system you can still see the lights on it are flashing and Aston Martin
07:34mechanics have come out to recover it because they've had the training to be able to touch the car
07:39when it's still considered in a hot situation you might sometimes see it in the garage where they put the
07:44yellow tape across the front of the garage to stop you wandering in when the car's still fired up but
07:49the light on the roll hoop is green which generally means it's probably okay to touch but you can still
07:54see the lights flashing the car still powered up so they're not taking any they're not taking any risks
07:59taking all the precautions putting the safety gloves on and then they'll touch the car and be
08:03able to switch it off and discharge it and then it'll be a bit safe so that's why that no
08:07one's going near
08:08the cars the marshals do have the marigolds you can see one wearing them but i think Aston Martin have
08:13said
08:13yeah it's probably a bit safer if we do it that's and we'll just let us come out and do
08:17it and that's
08:17what's going on and they'll eventually bring this car back to uh to the pits and fiddle with it some
08:22more
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