Last Updated on March 11 2026, 10:03 am

The all new Honda – Aston Martin partnership is not functioning as team owner Lawrence Stroll had hoped. In fact its fair to say the all new F1 relationship is a complete car crash. 

Whilst scathing is not a term one would use when describing the Silverstone team principal Adrian Newey’s rhetoric, he repeatedly laid the blame for Aston Martin’s current plight firmly at the foot of the team’s engine partner when giving interviews at the season opener in Melbourne.

Newey was thrust into the role of team principal, following a November visit to Honda’s Sakura base in early November 2025. The lack of readiness of the Japanese manufacturer was so shocking, Andy Cowell – the guru behind the Mercedes 2014 dominant power unit – offered to step down as Aston Martin team principal and assist with the urgent problem solving required with Honda.

 

 

 

Adrian Newey reveals Honda’s failings

Much has been written about how Newey’s skill set does not include the political savvy required for the large amount of media work included in the role of F1 team principal. This was clearly evident in Australia.

Newey attempted to explain that when Honda decided to withdraw from Formula One in 2020, much of their talent disappeared into programmes inside the parent auto manufacturing company. Come 2023 when the Japanese executives once again changed their minds, just around 30% of the skilled engineers responsible for creating title winning power units for Red Bull remained.

Further, he claimed Honda had been slow in getting their head count up to where it needed to be with the result that there engine is vibrating so terribly, Fernando Alonso could probably manage just 25 laps before suffering “nerve damage.” This kind of dramatic language is hardly becoming of a team principal and gave the impression of mere scaremongering.

When repeatedly asked how he was feeling after driving the AMR26 in Melbourne, Fernando Alonso made it clear the physical nature of the vibrations in the car were not a limiting factor.

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Aston Martin’s own ineptitude apparent

All in all the message was clear. It is Honda who need to get their act together, whilst Newey claimed the Aston Martin chassis was probably the “fifth best on the grid.” Yet the reality is that despite Honda executive Koji Watanabe admitting to “abnormal vibrations” are damaging battery systems and limiting performance, this is not the whole story.

Aston Martin were late to the Barcelona shakedown, because they had failed to properly manage their in house production schedule to ensure the chassis was good to go on day one. This may well be a reflection on Adrian Newey himself who in the past has been known to refuse to sign off on components until he is satisfied they are perfect.

It was day late on day four of the five scheduled in Barcelona, before the AMR26 had been properly assembled and ready to roll onto the Circuit de Catalunya. This was hardly the kind of timescale Honda had in mind to test their fledging new V6 turbo hybrid.

At the launch of the AMR26, much of the F1 media and analysts alike marvelled at the slimline aerodynamic nature of the F1 car design. This is a typical Adrian Newey trait who sees drag as a mortal enemy and makes every effort to create a tightly packed sleek body design, which at times is a challenge for the engineers to find space in which to fit the internal mechanical components.

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Newey AMR26 car design part of the problem

Ex-F1 technical director and car designer, Gary Anderson, explains to The Race that the AMR26 maybe compromising the  seating of Honda’s battery pack, which is suffering from the vibrations. “If, for example, the recess in the chassis for that battery pack is just that little bit too small to allow for any form of anti-vibration mountings for the battery pack, then solving this problem completely will not be easy. The initial problems seem to have been eased, but not eliminated, and that will take time.”

Newey somewhat unnecessarily explained in Australia that “what is important to remember is, effectively the PU, the combination of the ICE and possibly the MGU as well, is the source of the vibration. It’s the amplifier. The chassis is – in that scenario – the receiver.” In other words, my car design is not the problem here, it is Honda’s power unit.

Yet the Newey AMR26 chassis is said to have a particularly stiff design and in reality it could be that the source of the vibration is being “amplified” by the chassis. Clearly there is a bone of contention here between Newey and Honda, for him to even get into such minuscule technical details.

As previously suggested, the rhetoric from Newey as been to throw Honda under the bus in terms of being solely responsible for the current state of affairs and indeed they do share responsibility in the partnerships current plight. Yet as Will Buxton, the Netflix narrator for Drive to survive warned last weekend, Newey and Aston Martin need to be careful in how they manage their relationship with Honda.

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Honda chief calls for unity and improvements to the Aston Martin F1 car

“If you’re going to pin all the blame on Honda, that’s exactly what McLaren did. And by the time Honda found their feet, which they will do, Honda had had enough of McLaren, had gone to Red Bull, and Red Bull reaped the rewards of all the work that Honda put in over that time,” said the now full time Indycar commentator.

“When you start off your first weekend throwing Honda under the bus, and in Japanese culture, pride and loyalty are so key. I just feel like they may have completely ruined that relationship before the first weekend was even over. And that more than anything is like it’s a disaster from every conceivable perspective.”

Fortunately for Aston Martin, Honda’s head of their F1 programme is playing the grown up in the room for now admitting the lack of headcount was a problem b ut is now resolved. Koji Watanabe is calling for the relationship between Honda and Aston Martin to move on and become deeper from its current form which goes beyond improving the performance of the power unit but the Newey designed chassis as well.

“It [the relationship] can’t stay the same. We need to speed up (development) more, and that doesn’t just mean increasing the power of the PU. I think that together with the vehicle body, we can develop it and accelerate it. I want to be one team and do my best.” A clear call for unity from the Honda chief, the question is whether Adrian  Newey can contain himself this weekend in China.

 

 

 

NEXT ARTICLE: Christian Horner to Aston Martin F1 as Newey fails as team principal

March 10, 2026 by A J Hunt and The Judge