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The Honda and Aston Martin partnership that’s about to begin will likely define the next era of Lawrence Stroll’s Formula 1 team.
Aston Martin are essentially becoming a works F1 team in 2026, as they have exclusive access to Honda’s power units.
The connection between Aston Martin’s Silverstone factory and Honda’s premises appears to already be very strong despite being separated by thousands of miles.
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However, there are ‘growing concerns’ about Honda’s 2026 power unit, and given how important each team’s engine is going to be for the upcoming regulations, that will concern new team principal Adrian Newey.
Fernando Alonso is entering the last year of his contract, and given how much bad luck he’s had throughout his F1 career, he won’t want what could be his last shot at glory ruined by Honda yet again.
Aston Martin will have faith that Honda can build a world-class power unit based on their relationship with Red Bull.
But, as journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm has described, there are concerns that they might have started work too late on their 2026 engine to be at the top of their game this year.
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Honda have concerns about starting work on their 2026 Aston Martin power unit too late
Mitchell-Malm was speaking on The Race F1 Podcast about the upcoming season, and he said: “You speak to some people who are inside Honda or were inside Honda at the time.
“And it’s when the decision to withdraw from F1, even though the Honda engines never left, because they carried on being used by Red Bull.
“When Honda itself left, the Sakura R&D program from an F1 perspective was basically taken down to very little, enough to keep an eye on the 2026 rules just in case, and then basically just enough from an assembly and maintenance perspective.
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“I’ve spoken to people on and off the record at Honda, and even Koji Watanabe, who’s effectively in charge of the project, has admitted to me on the record that they lost up to a year basically of development by the time it got announced with Aston Martin, you were into spring of 2023.
“That’s way too late versus what other people were doing. Other manufacturers were doing in terms of preparing, and they’re kind of open about the fact that they’ve had to try and do things to try and catch up.
“But they have had to try and catch up. They did not start this at the same time.
“I do not understand what Honda have done, and it’s not a strategy, and it’s a consequence of not being a strategy.
“And it doesn’t mean that they’re going to be terrible and they’ll never catch up, even if they do start on the back foot.
“But it’s just important for people to recognise that Honda should be on the back foot and has been on the back foot in development terms for the last couple of years.”
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Damon Hill backs Adrian Newey to pull off a ‘complete surprise’ at Aston Martin
On paper, Aston Martin have some of the most impressive personnel in the Formula 1 paddock.
Between Alonso, Newey and power unit expert Andy Cowell, Aston Martin should be near the front of the grid.
However, they need time, something that isn’t on Alonso’s side, and provides no guarantees that any breakthroughs they or Honda make won’t be matched by their rivals.
Damon Hill has backed Newey to spring a ‘surprise’ at Aston Martin, but until testing begins, it’s hard to know how much ground they might have to make up.
Aston Martin might try to strengthen their line-up going into 2027, too, but first, they need to convince prospective drivers that they are an upgrade on their current teams.
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