ERS cooling issue in Mexico led to the retirement of both Aston Martin drivers after just 5 laps.

In a nightmare season, the Mexico City Grand Prix appropriately proved to be a Halloween horror story for the Japanese manufacturer and its partner.

Just moments after Fernando Alonso had retired, teammate Lance Stroll was told to stop his car with immediate effect.

The team was already seeking to recover from the disaster of qualifying, when, having shown strong pace in the practice sessions, Alonso suffered an engine issue in Q1 and was unable to continue.

In the aftermath of the race, the team's press release featured a 15-word comment from Adrian Newey.

"It has been a disappointing day, especially as Fernando showed very good pace all weekend," it read.

Now, Honda has given further insight into the double retirement.

"We knew that with the special high-altitude circumstance of Mexico City, we would face some additional challenges compared to other racetracks for the cooling," says Honda Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer Shintaro Orihara, in a brief statement.

"However, we found that our ERS cooling circuit was under heavier stress than anticipated, and this is why we had to stop the car in different sessions.

"Despite completing a series of laps during the practice sessions, the issue occurred today and during qualifying yesterday.

"At each race this year, we need to learn for 2027, even the hard lessons. We have a lot of data that we can bring back to this circuit next year, including on the turbo lag, and we will work on the solutions."

Much like the air in Mexico, one would expect that the patience of Alonso, Newey and Lawrence Stroll is getting pretty thin.