Aston Martin’s brightest engineers are still scratching their heads at Fernando Alonso’s P8 finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, according to renowned F1 journalist Michael Schmidt.

The Spaniard secured the Silverstone-based team’s best result of a disastrous campaign so far at the Sepang International Circuit, a track that Alonso has previously taken three Grand Prix victories at during his career.

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With Aston Martin now holding seven points to their name, they could potentially leapfrog Williams for P9 in the constructors’ standings in the remaining six rounds of racing.

However, it may prove to be a difficult feat for Adrian Newey and co, considering they are largely in the dark over how Alonso was able to get the job done at Sepang in the first place.

Aston Martin engineers still don’t ‘understand’ how Fernando Alonso scored P8 at Sepang

Heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, the British constructor had been tipped to suffer due to the Sepang-based circuit being regarded as a power-sensitive circuit that would reward teams with strong engines.

This was confirmed by the AMR26’s speed-trap data, which put both Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll at the very bottom of the pecking order when it came to raw speed on the straights.

Newey’s efficient aerodynamic package was credited for Alonso’s ability to go out and grab four points for Aston Martin’s efforts in the F1 standings, but their showing in Singapore painted a very different picture.

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As a result, F1 journalist Michael Schmidt has revealed how engineers at Silverstone have been baffled by the result from Sepang during an episode of Auto Motor und Sport’s Formula Schmidt podcast.

“The main problem is fundamentally that the Honda engine lacks power – massively so,” he began, highlighting how the Japanese engine manufacturer continues to hamstring Aston Martin’s efforts. “And there are also massive problems on the electrical side.

“They didn’t really understand why the car was relatively strong in Malaysia. And both of them made it through to Q2 there, finishing 8th and 12th. So you have to say that was down to their own efforts to some extent.

“After all, there are two long straights in Malaysia. Then you get to Singapore, and even Alonso said it could be another good track for us, but they’re nowhere to be seen there.

“There’s a lot of stop-and-go; there’s a lot of braking, then accelerating again, and then that driveability issue crops up again.”

Schmidt then pinpointed two aspects of the AMR26’s drivability that is hindering their drivers, adding: “Brake-by-wire, they obviously have no idea how that works. The drivers are uncertain then because the car becomes unstable, sometimes it overbrakes, sometimes it doesn’t brake enough.

“And the other issue is simply traction. That’s where it lacks, because the electric power is somehow misapplied, however, too aggressively or not aggressively enough.”