F1 teams are in a flat spin to get ahead for the 2026 season, especially Honda, which is responsible for supplying Aston Martin with power units. Honda has a strong track record in the sport, but the racing powerhouse is reportedly facing an uphill challenge heading into the 2026 campaign.
Honda Committed Late To Power Unit Project With Aston Martin Compared to F1 Rivals
There’s a lot of anticipation around Aston Martin’s partnership with Honda, especially with the renowned Adrian Newey on board. The British engineer’s Red Bulls won six World Constructors’ Championships, drawing significant attention to Lawrence Stroll’s project this year.
“[Stroll] has a very strong passion for winning first and foremost,” Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe said, via Road & Track. “He’s also a very strong leader. Also, he has very high regard for Honda.”
‘@HondaRacingF1 had some catching up to do after committing to a 2026 F1 power unit programme later than rivals. However as HRC boss Koji Watanabe explains the Japanese manufacturer has lofty ambitions for its new partnership with @AstonMartinF1: https://t.co/zSErJoMBCp
— Adam Cooper (@adamcooperF1) January 22, 2026
Honda, however, is facing a unique challenge this offseason. Having left F1 in 2021, the dedicated staff were largely scattered across various divisions of the company. Only a “skeleton crew” remained on the Red Bull project, meaning the company had to rebuild its F1 department when the call came to join Aston Martin.
“The announcement was made back then that, as of 2021, Honda [would] withdraw as a works organization from F1,” Watanabe said. “The reason back then was that Honda Motor Corporation has made this decision to make this great shift towards electrification and going with carbon neutrality. And with that change, this led to many of these F1 engineers to be dispersed to the production areas of Honda.”
Honda continued its partnership with Red Bull in a technical support capacity, meaning it didn’t need as many staff in its F1 division as before.
“At that time, HRC functioned as a provider of technical support for Red Bull,” the president said. “So, for F1, we had the necessary number of people to provide that support. So it’s not like we had zero people there anymore related to F1, but there was a huge reduction of engineers and mechanics at Sakura.”
Because the Japanese entity did not develop a power unit from 2022 to 2023, it was behind when it started putting together a team again, not to mention the challenges of dealing with a whole new regulatory era. By then, teams like Red Bull Powertrains, Mercedes, and Audi had already been busy developing their engines for 2026.
However, Honda is famous for producing high-performing power units, so it will be interesting to see what they dish up in partnership with Aston Martin and Newey at the wheel.
