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The F1 paddock believes Aston Martin will head into the 2026 season with the worst engine after noticing a host of problems with Honda’s power unit at the Bahrain test.
Aston Martin arrived very late to the Barcelona shakedown, so the two official tests in Sakhir over the past two weeks gave the Silverstone squad and their rival teams their first real look at the AMR26. But the signs were not great, and many expect Aston Martin to trail the field.
Lance Stroll even suggested in Bahrain that Aston Martin are four seconds a lap off the pace of the fastest teams. Stroll and teammate Fernando Alonso would not even complete a race simulation in Sakhir, as well, as Aston Martin and Honda battled a wealth of reliability issues.
Honda’s battery relentlessly failing in Bahrain also forced Aston Martin to end the last day of the test early. But the Honda RA262H power unit is not their only problem, as Aston Martin face a six-month timeline to build a new gearbox as their first in-house design is too fragile.
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The F1 paddock suspects Aston Martin’s 2026 Honda engine is up to 15kg overweight
Aston Martin secured an exclusive works engine partnership with Honda ahead of the 2026 F1 regulations, as they believed it would help them reach the front of the field. But the test in Bahrain suggests their dream will have to wait until Honda improve their new power unit.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and aero regulations
And according to Nextgen-Auto, the problems Honda need to fix stretch beyond their power unit being ‘clearly underpowered’ compared to their competitors’ engines. The F1 paddock at the Bahrain test suspects that Aston Martin’s Honda engine is also up to 15kg overweight.
The F1 paddock places Honda’s new power unit behind Mercedes and Ferrari’s engines, and also behind the designs that Audi and Red Bull developed for their first-ever F1 power units. The failings of Honda’s 2026 rules engine are costing Aston Martin heaps of time every lap.
Honda’s engine is believed to be failing to achieve the minimum energy recovery threshold of 250kw, let alone the maximum of 350kw, without going into a safety mode. Aston Martin and Honda also have to work together on cooling their engine as it overheats ‘considerably’.
Adrian Newey must work with Honda to improve Aston Martin’s engine, but he refuses to
Aston Martin managing technical partner Adrian Newey, who has also now stepped into the role of team principal from the 2026 F1 season, has to take some of the blame for the issues that the Silverstone natives suffered with Honda’s engine throughout the two Bahrain tests.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin F1 team principal Adrian Newey
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It is said that Newey’s design is limiting Honda’s ability to improve Aston Martin’s engine, as well as helping to create the overheating issues they encountered in Sakhir. He also left it as late as possible to fix the AMR26’s design, which Honda agreed to build their engine around.
But while Newey told Aston Martin’s rival F1 teams about Honda’s energy recovery issues in Bahrain, he seems to be reluctant to get too involved in sorting out the problems with their power unit. Instead, Andy Cowell is working closely with Honda on fixing Aston Martin’s PU.
Reports suggest that Newey has delegated Honda’s engine problems to focus on developing Aston Martin’s car, as the design legend is determined to achieve his technical vision. But as Newey’s design has contributed to Aston Martin and Honda’s problems, he needs to step in.
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