Honda is the new power unit provider for Aston Martin in the 2026 Formula 1 season, but the partnership has had a horrid, reputation-damaging start to the campaign, according to multiple reports. The new Honda engine is the source of vibrations that amplify and cause reliability issues, with the vibrations potentially forcing drivers to stop after only a few laps in races, according to Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey. This situation has raised immediate concerns about the team's ability to compete effectively and safely.
Aston Martin's operational challenges extend beyond the engine problems. The team arrived three-and-a-half days late to the first pre-season test in Barcelona, according to multiple reports. For the Australian Grand Prix weekend, Aston Martin does not have a spare battery, according to Newey, who added that the team only has two batteries left, those in the cars, and losing one would pose a big problem. Fernando Alonso's car could not participate in the first free practice session on Friday due to a battery problem, according to multiple reports, highlighting the precariousness of their situation.
They [Honda] re-entered with, let's say, 30% of their original team, and now in a budget cap era. So they started very much on the back foot, and unfortunately, they've struggled to catch back up.
On track, Aston Martin was flailing at the back with F1's newest team, Cadillac, during the season-opener in Australia, according to multiple reports. The AMR26 car's vibrations are giving drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll concerns about permanent nerve damage to their hands and feet, according to Adrian Newey. Newey described the power unit as the source of the vibrations, noting that they cause some reliability issues that must be corrected, but the much more important problem is that these vibrations end up being transmitted to the driver's fingers.
Honda's resource and organizational challenges have contributed to these difficulties. Aston Martin realized the scale of Honda's lack of resources only last November, according to Adrian Newey. Honda re-entered Formula 1 with 30% of their original team and has struggled to catch back up in the budget cap era, according to Newey.
I feel powerless.
Honda has defended its capabilities amid the crisis. According to Honda president Koji Watanabe, the company's policy is to rotate engineers regularly between motorsport and other technologies like mass production, jets, eVTOL, or hydrology. Watanabe stated that they now have sufficient organization and talent.
These setbacks contrast sharply with Aston Martin's significant investments in infrastructure and personnel. The team has devoted over £1 billion in recent years to a new factory, wind tunnel, and simulator tools at Silverstone, and £20 million per year on Adrian Newey, according to multiple reports. This substantial financial commitment underscores the high expectations for the partnership with Honda, making the current technical and operational issues particularly disappointing for the team.
I think that it's a misunderstanding. Basically, our policy is to rotate the engineers of the motorsport regularly to mass production or more advanced technologies like jet or eVTOL or hydrology or something like that. So that is, we continue to rotate from the beginning. Probably my explanation is not enough. Also, of course, to rebuild the organisation took a bit of time, so that was his worry, I think. But now we have sufficient organisation and talent.
We lack batteries. We only have two left, those that are in the cars. If we lose one, it will obviously pose a big problem. We must therefore be very careful about how we use the batteries.
The power unit (the engine) is the source of the vibrations, it is what amplifies them. These vibrations cause some reliability issues that we must correct. But the much more important problem is that these vibrations end up being transmitted to the driver's fingers.