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Juan Pablo Montoya believes Aston Martin must sacrifice the 2026 F1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix and prioritise gathering data for Honda to improve their engine.
The Silverstone squad have entered a new era as a full works team this year, having secured an exclusive power unit partnership with Honda. Yet while Aston Martin hoped it would see them rise to the front of the field, they are looking at starting 2026 as the worst team in F1.
Aston Martin had a disastrous pre-season, which saw them arrive late for the shakedown in Barcelona and then struggle to record a lot of laps over the two official tests in Bahrain. The longest single stint that Aston Martin enjoyed from their laps in Sakhir was just 26 laps long.
A lack of spare parts due to Honda’s battery repeatedly failing in Bahrain even meant Aston Martin stopped their test early. The general consensus in the F1 paddock in Sakhir was also that Honda’s 2026 engine is overweight and clearly underpowered compared to the others.
Aston Martin are currently facing a 38kph deficit to Ferrari’s engine! Do you think they’ll even QUALIFY for the Australian Grand Prix?!
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Juan Pablo Montoya urges Aston Martin to use a ‘quiet’ Honda engine mode in Australia
As Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll penned the fewest laps by any team over the two tests in Bahrain, Montoya thinks Aston Martin must tell their drivers that they are “not interested in speed” at the 2026 Australian GP. It will be more helpful to focus on mileage to gain data.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and aero regulations
Montoya told AS: “They need to start turning it around. It’s not about competition, they need to get going to start putting mileage on everything and begin to understand how everything works and to gather information.
“They have to take it easy and tell the drivers, ‘This is a test. We’re not interested in speed or anything. We’re not looking for maximum power. There won’t be maximum power. We’re going to put some modes in it for engine safety, a quiet mode, and we’re going to start understanding that the systems start working properly.’”
From the laps that Aston Martin managed during the first test in Bahrain, Stroll claimed the AMR26 is four seconds per lap off the pace. GPS data suggests Honda’s engine accounts for 1.5s of Aston Martin’s deficit, as the car also struggled for grip and thermal management.
Aston Martin engineers are working with Honda after identifying vibration issues
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Honda have identified the vibrations created whilst the Aston Martin AMR26 was running as the main cause of the reliability issues with the battery in Bahrain. Honda managing director Ikuo Takeishi says they are yet to learn the precise reason why the vibrations were an issue.
F1 power unit project general manager Satoshi Tsunoda has noted that Adrian Newey asked Honda to change “almost everything” about Aston Martin’s engine when he joined them, as well. Honda fell well behind schedule as they changed everything but the engine’s structure.
According to AS-WEB, five engineers from Aston Martin are currently working with Honda at their engine plant at HRC Sakura to analyse what data they could record in Bahrain. They are also still striving to develop new measures to counter the vibrations that appeared in Sakhir.
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