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Honda and Aston Martin are both preparing to bring updates to the Australian Grand Prix after a disastrous start to the 2026 campaign.
It can’t be underestimated how much trouble Aston Martin are in compared to all of their rivals based on how pre-season testing played out.
Aston Martin are heading to Melbourne with incredibly low expectations, with their new Honda power unit functioning well below expectations.
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Adrian Newey has his work cut out, while Fernando Alonso must be wondering when, if ever, his luck is going to change in Formula 1, 20 years on from his second championship victory.
Both Aston Martin and Honda know they can’t afford to slow down the work they’re doing behind the scenes, and journalists Kemal Sengul and Thomas Maher have shared more details about what both parties are planning on bringing to the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.
READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage
Honda and Aston Martin bringing ‘solutions’ to the Australian Grand Prix
Posting on X ahead of the opening race of 2026, Sengul said: “The situation at Aston Martin still looks bleak. The team has neither confirmed nor denied today’s reports.
“However, in any case, they are heading to Australia not with the aim of performing well, but with the aim of resolving their issues.
“This will undoubtedly be the most challenging weekend of the season for the team.
“Honda and Aston Martin will implement some solutions, but there is no 100% guarantee that the problems will be resolved.
“In the worst-case scenario, it could be a weekend where both cars are out of the race. However, all these scenarios will take shape depending on how the weekend unfolds.”
Will anyone suffer the same fate as these disastrous F1 cars at this year’s Australian GP? 😬
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Maher added to Sengul’s update and explained on X: “Aston Martin is heading to Australia with its weekend prospects very much dependent on the reliability tweaks Honda is introducing on the PU.
“With Honda revealing excessive battery pack shaking caused the issues in Bahrain, reliability fixes are being brought to Australia.
“On Friday, these fixes will be rolled out. Should they prove successful, then Aston Martin could be in line for a normal weekend.
“If they don’t work, then it’ll be a weekend of data gathering and seeing what can be achieved.
“Certainly, there’s no plan to show up as merely a box-ticking exercise of participation.
“There’s an awareness of being on the back foot to start the year, but not being on track doesn’t fast-track the potential early gains in learning.
“There are also plans to introduce a new aerodynamics package to the AMR26, which obviously can’t be evaluated without being driven in a variety of conditions and scenarios.”
READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin F1 team principal Adrian Newey
Adrian Newey’s late arrival from Red Bull ‘hasn’t helped’ Aston Martin this season
On paper, Aston Martin chairman Lawrence Stroll had brought together all of the ingredients needed for a successful Formula 1 team.
However, Honda’s initial withdrawal from F1 after ending their partnership with Red Bull before deciding to return has set them back far more than anyone expected.
On top of this, Stoffel Vandoorne has suggested that Newey’s late arrival ‘hasn’t helped’ after only officially beginning work with Aston Martin last March.
Enrico Cardile was also delayed in starting at Aston Martin from Ferrari, and Andy Cowell being removed as team principal at the end of 2025 suggests there’s a lot of instability behind the scenes.
This has led to the situation that Aston Martin find themselves in, with the prospect of a double Q1 exit in Australia looking very likely at this stage.
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