Honda hold 'emergency' talks over Aston Martin F1 crisis

Honda Racing president Koji Watanabe revealed during an 'emergency' press briefing that talks are underway with F1 team Aston Martin following the disastrous start to their power unit partnership.

Aston Martin have entered into a power unit partnership with Honda ahead of the 2026 season, as new regulations sweeping into the sport offer them an opportunity to close in on the top four teams in the sport.

However, pre-season testing in Barcelona and Bahrain have suggested that Aston Martin will be closer to the back of the pack than the front.

Reliability and power issues plagued them throughout pre-season, and they put in the fewest amount of laps of all the 11 teams throughout the course of the nine days that were available to teams in January and February.

Breakdowns and limited running was the story of Aston Martin's pre-season, and even when they were on track, they weren't particularly fast, with driver Lance Stroll suggesting that they were four seconds behind the pace of the top teams.

That's despite the fact that design legend Adrian Newey has designed their 2026 car, while the power unit manufacturer who recently won drivers' and constructors' championships in partnership with Red Bull have supplied their power unit.

Now, during a press conference called with Japanese media to talk about Honda's power unit issues, Watanabe has offered an update on where the Japanese car manufacturers are with their 2026 design.

"To be frank, the pre-season tests were extremely tough for us," he said. "We were unable to perform to the full extent we had hoped, and a number of issues became apparent.

"This test was a very important process in that it allowed us to visualise the issues. Our engineers and mechanics are now working more closely than ever before with the team on site, working day and night to make improvements.

"We are in open discussions with Aston Martin and are working more together than ever to find solutions to overcome this challenge.

"The obstacles we face are certainly high, but we will not give up on the challenge."

READ MORE: How long before Alonso and Honda fall out...again?

Which engine will each team use in F1 2026?

Aston Martin are the only team to be using power unit provider Honda, something which former Aston Martin strategy engineer Bernie Collins suggested could be a long-term problem, in that there is only limited data coming from the power unit for Honda to make improvements from.

The other team in that boat is Audi, who are supplying their own power units but do not have any other customers. However, so far it seems as though Audi are doing much better from a reliability standpoint than Aston Martin.

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 in 2026, 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 have three customers in 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.

F1 2026 Regulations: What has happened to the MGU-H?

Related