At a joint press conference in Suzuka, Honda’s Shintaro Orihara and Aston Martin’s Mike Krack said engineers at Honda’s Sakura facility had made progress on battery reliability and implemented countermeasures, but that substantive power‑unit updates would not be ready for the Japanese Grand Prix. They said they updated energy‑management simulations and reallocated funds toward a longer‑term solution, but the FIA declined their requests for concessions under ADUO rules governing power‑unit changes, so meaningful updates were deferred.

The short‑term push followed two high‑profile retirements in China tied to battery issues: Lance Stroll stopped on lap nine, and most reports placed Fernando Alonso’s retirement around lap 32 (some outlets reported lap 26). Both drivers experienced severe cockpit vibrations and painful steering; on‑board footage showed Alonso lifting his hands, and he reported numbness in his hands and feet. Those symptoms, alongside earlier reliability shortfalls, prompted safety concerns including warnings from Adrian Newey about potential nerve damage.

Honda and Aston Martin said they applied a mix of hardware fixes and driver‑side mitigations, refined telemetry and energy management, and deliberately ran the power units at lower RPM to limit vibration at the cost of some performance. Team officials expressed cautious confidence that these countermeasures would allow both cars to finish at Suzuka and gather data between races, while a permanent hardware fix remains the objective for a later ADUO window, with some reports suggesting it could arrive as soon as the Miami race. The immediate priorities were protecting driver safety and buying time to develop a definitive solution.

Oliver Bearman has built a strong case for promotion to Ferrari, though Lewis Hamilton’s strong early-season form complicates the timing.

Ferrari advisor Ayao Komatsu urged the team to find a way to bring the 20-year-old out of Haas for 2027, citing his rapid progress since his full-time debut in 2025.

Bearman said he was ready for podiums and wins, telling reporters “I am ready to drive for Ferrari” and reiterating a long-term goal to “put on a red suit,” after recording three top-eight finishes across two grands prix and a sprint to open the season, including P7 in Australia and a P5 in China that was his best result to date.

Max Verstappen halted a media session at Red Bull’s hospitality in Suzuka and refused to speak until The Guardian journalist Giles Richards left the room, underscoring continuing tensions with parts of the British media. Verstappen singled Richards out during a scheduled print session, telling him “Get out” and “I’m not speaking before he’s leaving.” After Richards left, Verstappen said, “Now we can start.” The exchange was on the record and included a back-and-forth about whether Verstappen was upset.

The confrontation traced back to a question Richards asked at the 2025 Abu Dhabi season finale about Verstappen’s collision with Mercedes driver George Russell at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, the Barcelona clash. That incident drew a 10-second penalty that dropped Verstappen from fifth to 10th in the race, cost him nine championship points and was a factor in Lando Norris winning the 2025 title by two points. Richards told those present he was referring to the earlier Abu Dhabi question; Verstappen has elsewhere called the Barcelona collision a “mistake.”

The episode was reported as another flashpoint in wider friction between Verstappen/Red Bull and some British outlets. Verstappen has previously accused parts of the British media of bias, including saying he had the “wrong passport,” and earlier tensions saw a brief Sky Sports F1 boycott in 2022. Crash.net noted the incident and said it had contacted Red Bull for comment but received no response. Only FIA press conferences are mandatory, and any formal intervention or disciplinary action would be at Red Bull’s discretion.

Max Verstappen made a surprise stop at Fuji Speedway to test a Red Bull-livered Nissan Z GT500 in wet conditions; the outing was understood to be part of a Red Bull promotional shoot. Organizers said he completed several laps to acclimate to the GT500’s two-liter inline-four engine. No lap times were published, and only a handful of GT500 cars attended the manufacturers’ test. Coverage emphasized the session was a manufacturer/team activity rather than an official F1 event.

The run was Verstappen’s second outing in a modern Super GT car; he shared driving duties with Kondo Racing’s Atsushi Miyake. A GT300 Honda NSX in matching Red Bull colors also ran, marking the first Super GT entry in Red Bull colors since 2022.

Coverage described the appearance as part of Verstappen’s expanding sports-car program. It followed his recent Nürburgring GT appearances, where he and teammates were provisionally classified first before a tire-related disqualification, and reports say he is set to contest the Nürburgring 24 Hours with Mercedes-AMG alongside Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella.

Organized by Milton Keynes-based Red Bull, the Fuji session served promotional and seat-time purposes ahead of the F1 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka and was not accompanied by any reported technical updates to Red Bull’s F1 program.