Smiles at Aston Martin after Honda F1 project takes significant step

Photo: © IMAGO

Aston Martin

Smiles at Aston Martin after Honda F1 project takes significant step

Aston Martin teased their 2026 challenger

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 1 January 2026 19:44

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Aston Martin teased their upcoming F1 project with Honda on social media, where team members at the factory looked pleased with their efforts.

Honda parted ways with Red Bull at the end of the 2025 season, and enter 2026 as Aston Martin's power unit supplier whom they will tackle the new regulations alongside.

Next year's power unit will feature a 50:50 split between electrical power and the internal combustion engine, a commitment to sustainability that has ensured the presence of manufacturers such as Honda and Audi in F1.

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While we'll have to wait until February 9 for the unveiling of Aston Martin's 2026 challenger, the team have teased aspects of the AMR26 in various social media posts, including a clip containing only the sound of a Honda engine.

In a recent clip posted to social media, the Aston Martin and Honda team were pictured at the factory working on elements of the car before the engine was fired up, signalling a significant step for both sides of the operation.

Team personnel were clearly pleased, although the actual car was not filmed for viewers to see, erupting into applause and smiling. The team wrote in the caption: "A new era comes to life. The AMR26 fired up before winter shutdown."

Will Aston Martin and Honda make for a dream partnership?

The AMR26 will be the first Aston Martin F1 car designed by Adrian Newey, who arrived at the team last year and has been hard at work on their 2026 challenger ever since.

Newey – who was also named Aston Martin team principal in November – is responsible for the 2026 chassis, and in an interview for Aston Martin's website Honda Racing president Koji Watanabe, was asked about working with the design legend once again.

Red Bull's engine partnership with Honda and Newey's designs saw the team claim four drivers' titles with Max Verstappen from 2021-2024, and Watanabe will be hoping the project at Aston Martin will yield similar success.

"We laughed a lot in the first meeting after he joined Aston Martin – it was very much a case of, 'Well, here we are again!' It's very exciting that he's here and, of course, there is huge respect for him and his capabilities," Watanabe said.

"In terms of power unit development, we have our processes and timetable for making a power unit that is capable and competitive, and Adrian has been working from day one on doing the same for the chassis – so we're working very closely and communicating a great deal at the point where those two things meet."

"Adrian is one of the people I communicate with frequently, and it's often a quite intense exchange of opinions, suggestions, and feedback – but always with the focus on winning.

"Whenever we're having a technical discussion about components or development, it's always with the long-term focus on how we get the win. And that can be about anything: it might be a very detailed design issue, but equally it might be about competitor analysis, or how to manage people to get the best out of them, or even finance and using the limitations of the cost cap most effectively."

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