F1 teams must scrap plans to help Honda after seeing what they did at Red Bull

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Formula 1 are considering bending the 2026 rules to give Honda extra upgrades to solve their crisis, but as their history with Red Bull shows, that would be a huge mistake.

Now, there is no denying that Honda’s situation in 2026 is a disaster. After so much hype around their partnership with Aston Martin and Lawrence Stroll’s investment, which included signing Adrian Newey, they are glued to the back of the grid.

Fernando Alonso scored the team’s only finish so far at Suzuka, with vibration issues, unreliability and a lack of pace hampering the project. Things are not set to improve soon, either, as Aston Martin’s Miami upgrades will have no ‘visible impact’ on performance, according to Honda.

Did Aston Martin make a mistake dropping Mercedes as engine partners for Honda?

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This has led to talks, as per The Race, about allowing Honda to have extra ADUO. The current cap stipulates that if a manufacturer is 4% adrift from the benchmark, they will be allowed two upgrades for 2026 and for 2027.

A revision of this regulation would mean that Honda would not be ‘limited in terms of how much of a recovery it can make’. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff even suggested that the upgrade system should only be something that Honda qualify for.

Aston Martin are not optimistic about the ‘B-spec’ package, so upgrades are desperately needed. However, ADUO will more than supply them and Honda with what they need, as giving them extra could see a repeat of the Japanese outfit’s dominance with Red Bull.

READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Honda took three years to win the F1 championship with Red Bull – they don’t need extra upgrades in 2026

Honda’s time in Formula 1 this past decade has seen extreme highs and extreme lows. Everyone will remember well how much they struggled with McLaren between 2015 and 2018.

They are in a similar situation this season – in fact, Aston Martin’s AMR26 is worse than any McLaren Honda right now. But all it took was time for the Japanese giants to learn the regulations and build a competitive power unit, as they showed with Red Bull.

After a trial period with Toro Rosso in 2018, Red Bull ended their partnership with Renault and teamed up with Honda from 2019. While they did not have a title-winning package, they had one that could win races, unlike McLaren.

With three race wins in 2019 and two victories in 2020, courtesy of Max Verstappen, by 2021, Honda had built a power unit that was capable of battling with the seemingly unstoppable Mercedes. Verstappen won the title that year, before going on to dominate the sport for the next three years.

Should F1 teams help Honda and give them extra upgrades in 2026?

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Honda needed to adapt to the regulation changes as a new engine supplier. It was disastrous to begin with, but with time, they perfected them and had a dominant power unit behind them – it’s the same situation they face with Aston Martin in 2026.

Granted, things are very poor now, and upgrades are needed, but giving the team extra opportunities to develop the car could suddenly propel them up the order and fighting for podiums or even wins.

That is not something their rivals would want, especially when Honda and Aston Martin got development so wrong to begin with. It is also not what F1 would want, as one team dominating the field under the new regulations is the one thing many feared would happen.

Guenther Steiner says Honda ‘always come back’, and there is no reason why they cannot do that this year, with their and Aston Martin’s infrastructure. But giving them more upgrades could just give them even more ammunition to replicate the dominance with Red Bull that everyone grew tired of.