Adrian Newey made a sarcastic dig about Honda’s 80hp deficit as Aston Martin face reliability crisis

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Adrian Newey is not happy with the battery issues that Aston Martin have faced, with their new engine partnership with Honda set to ruin their start to the 2026 F1 season.

Aston Martin will head into this week’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix without a clear understanding of how many laps they will complete, and also whether they will even qualify. Fears have arisen since testing that Aston Martin may fail to meet the 107% rule in Australia.

The 2026 F1 season and the new regulations were meant to mark the start of Aston Martin’s rise to the front after securing a factory Honda engine partnership. But any hopes of fighting for a title have already been dashed, after Aston Martin failed to complete their testing plan.

Honda have revealed that Aston Martin’s reliability problems in Bahrain were because of the battery failing due to the V6 internal combustion engine (ICE) causing excessive vibrations, which went unnoticed on their test benches. Honda are now frantically trying to design a fix.

Will anyone suffer the same fate as these disastrous F1 cars at this year’s Australian GP? 😬

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Adrian Newey has sarcastically claimed Aston Martin’s Honda engine is not powerful enough to charge the battery

Aston Martin have sent chief strategy officer Andy Cowell, who Newey has replaced as team principal for the 2026 season, to Japan to help Honda fix their engine. But Autosport reports that ‘time is running out’ for Honda to find ‘basic reliability’ before looking for performance.

READ MORE: All you need to know about the 2026 F1 season, from the calendar to drivers

Newey is far from happy with the situation, and is even said to have ‘sarcastically’ taken aim at Honda by suggesting that the Japanese brand’s new V6 engine is not powerful enough to recharge the battery. Honda’s engine is thought to lack 80hp when it is charging the battery.

Honda’s problems also ensured Aston Martin were unable to gauge the actual performance levels of the AMR26 over the two three-day tests in Bahrain. The Silverstone team will now head to Melbourne largely hoping to just avoid their image being undermined even further.

This is also not the first time that Newey is said to have taken aim at Honda due to the plight that Aston Martin encountered in Bahrain. It has even been suggested that Newey hit out at Honda’s engine to Aston Martin’s rival F1 teams, as it does not recover the minimum energy.

Aston Martin cannot retire early from the Australian Grand Prix as Honda need the data

It is even claimed that Aston Martin already plan to retire from the 2026 Australian GP when they have completed the minimum distance needed to satisfy F1 chiefs. However, that claim has been disputed by other outlets, as Aston Martin and Honda need more mileage for data.

Aston Martin arrived late for the shakedown in Barcelona, and then produced the lowest lap count by any team at the two pre-season tests in Bahrain. Honda’s woes also overshadowed Aston Martin’s 2026 F1 car suffering from a lack of grip and also seeming to lack downforce.

Reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne believes Newey’s late arrival has not helped Aston Martin, either, as the design guru only joined as their managing technical partner in March 2025. As soon as he arrived, Newey asked Honda to change almost everything to install his concepts.