F1 2026: Aston Martin set for long struggle as Honda face bleak future

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Aston Martin set for long F1 struggle as Honda face bleak future

Aston Martin struggled in pre-season testing

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 24 February 2026 18:53 Updated: 22:53

A former Aston Martin F1 employee has revealed that the team could be set to struggle for a lengthy period, as their Honda partnership presents a long-term problem for them.

During pre-season testing, Aston Martin had a torrid time, with breakdowns and power unit problems marring their running, ensuring that they put in the least amount of laps of any team - even fewer than the new Cadillac outfit.

On top of this, driver Lance Stroll suggested that they were as far as four seconds off the top teams, with the new regulations clearly not offering them the opportunities that they thought they might.

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Aston Martin have started a power unit partnership with Honda, who were previously involved in a highly-successful pairing with Red Bull, and it was thought that this would enable the Silverstone outfit to challenge nearer to the front of the grid.

Former Aston Martin strategy engineer Bernie Collins believes that this power unit partnership could well provide Aston Martin with problems heading into the future, however, with the team being Honda's only customer.

Collins was also speaking before a Honda statement was released later in the Bahrain pre-season testing week which confirmed that the manufacturer were having problems with their battery, which resulted in Lance Stroll only being able to put in six laps on the final day.

"There was a lot of talk around Aston Martin," Collins said during Sky Sports F1's live broadcast of pre-season testing. "They struggled to get to the Barcelona shakedown, didn't do a lot of laps last week.

"One of the disadvantages Aston have is they are the only team with the Honda power unit. That limits the learning you get on a power unit.

"One of the great things about F1 is, it doesn't matter how good your drivers are, your chassis design is under the watchful eye of Adrian Newey - it all needs to come together. They have got a new power unit, a new gearbox, quite aggressive suspension, lots of elements to put together. But is it enough?

"They look to be struggling. I can't see that struggle come out of the woods in the first few races."

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Aston Martin are one of only two teams whose power unit partner - Honda - only provides one F1 team which, as Collins suggested, means that there is less data available for improvements to be made.

The other team in that boat is Audi, who are supplying their own power units but do not have any other customers.

Alongside Audi's debut as a power unit manufacturer, Red Bull are also making their own power units for the first time in partnership with Ford, but they will be supplying both the main Red Bull team and Racing Bulls.

Ferrari are another power unit manufacturer in the sport in 2026, and they are supplying the works team, Haas and Cadillac.

The fifth power unit manufacturer is of course Mercedes, who supply the most teams, with McLaren, Williams, Alpine and the works Mercedes team on their list of customers in 2026.

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F1 Aston Martin 2026 regulations pre-season testing Honda Bernie Collins