The first two race weekends of Formula 1’s European season have served as another reality check for Aston Martin and its engine partner Honda. Although Fernando Alonso scored the team’s first point of the season in Monaco, he immediately added that it was no reason for celebration.
During qualifying in the principality, both Aston Martin cars occupied the last two positions, and that picture was repeated the following weekend in Barcelona. At this all-round circuit, the quickest Aston Martin was even a full second off the pace of the slowest Cadillac in Q1.
It led Alonso to say in the media pen that Aston Martin currently has the weakest chassis and the weakest power unit on the grid. That leaves an enormous amount of work to do in Silverstone and Sakura, with both drivers pinning their hopes on the upgrade package that is due later this summer – Adrian Newey’s first significant package of the season.
The biggest problems, however, are still related to the power unit and gearbox. Regarding the former, Honda acknowledges that it is not where it wants to be, although the Japanese manufacturer draws hope from its previous F1 stint – in which a difficult start was eventually turned into world titles.
“The start of the 2026 season has been very challenging for us. The current position is not where we want to be,” HRC president Koji Watanabe admitted in a special video message.
“However, in difficult times we rely on the challenging spirit that is part of Honda and HRC’s DNA. In 2015, we also faced a tough start, but we became stronger by never giving up.”
Watanabe is referring to Honda’s first year in the hybrid era, which also proved a painful campaign when it partnered McLaren.
That particular chapter of Honda's partnership with the Woking-based team never flourished, after which Honda joined forces with Red Bull in 2018 – first with sister team Toro Rosso and a year later with Red Bull Racing, leading to multiple world titles from 2021 onwards.
Honda is hoping for a similar turnaround now, with the key difference being that it does not intend to switch partners this time. Instead, Honda still hopes to turn its ambitious project with Aston Martin into a success in the long term.
“Our relationship with Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team is growing stronger every day,” Watanabe insisted.
According to him, another step was taken in Barcelona. The HRC president was present in person to discuss all of the current issues and to speak with team members on Thursday.
“At the recent Spanish GP [Barcelona], we had a team gathering, which gave us a great opportunity to communicate openly and strengthen our trust. I also enjoyed speaking directly with many members of the team,” Watanabe confirmed.
Motorsport.com understands that this meeting, held in the team’s hospitality unit, had an informal character. It was the first trackside team gathering this year, after which Aston Martin and Honda intend to hold similar meetings more frequently during the remainder of the season – mainly to bring all parties together and create opportunities to speak with team members on the ground.
ADUO offers a lifeline, but no quick fix
The list of improvements remains long, as team ambassador Pedro de la Rosa admitted in Monaco that there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the time being.
As far as Honda’s power unit is concerned, severe vibrations overshadowed everything during the early stages of the season. After resolving those issues, Honda has been able to gradually shift its focus towards driveability, which has also troubled Alonso and Lance Stroll over recent months.
Although progress has been made in those areas, the Sakura-based manufacturer is still lacking a considerable amount of outright performance, particularly on the internal combustion engine side.
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ADUO and the upgrades Honda will be granted (two for this year and two for next year) provide an opportunity to recover some of that deficit, although Watanabe acknowledged that it will be a long-term battle.
Add to that the fact that the gearbox – particularly the feel on downshifts – remains a concern, and that according to Alonso the chassis needs to improve drastically, and it becomes clear that the challenges remain complex.
“But we will never give up, no matter what,” Watanabe said. “We understand that the results so far have been frustrating and we share that feeling. However, we believe that our hard work will pay off and we will keep pushing forward.”
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