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Aston Martin F1 crisis: Are Honda blaming Adrian Newey?

Kerry Violet Monday 2 March 2026 08:29

Aston Martin and Honda appear to be putting on an increasingly divided front when it comes to their F1 2026 power unit problems.

The F1 squad owned by Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll are entering a new era of the sport with Honda by their side as a works partner, but this collaboration has come at a particularly tricky time thanks to the overhaul of the chassis and power unit regulations.

In F1 2026, there is a much bigger focus on electrical energy, with the latest regulations cycle introducing an almost 50/50 power split between the internal combustion engine (ICE) and the 350kW electrical MGU-K system, after the MGU-H was removed altogether.

This has handed all five of F1's power unit manufacturers the task of getting to grips with the new regulations in time for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix next weekend.

But unlike Mercedes who have three customer teams on the grid from this season, Aston Martin are particularly alone in this challenge as they are the only constructor using Honda power units.

As if this wasn't enough of a setback, the team now lead by F1 design genius Adrian Newey have encountered severe problems with the Honda battery in their new power unit, with an increasingly grim picture being painted of the team who were hoping to be challenging for race wins and even championships in this new rules cycle.

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Are Honda and Aston Martin divided over F1 2026 crisis?

It is hard to pinpoint where Aston Martin and Honda's F1 2026 crisis began, but one of the first red flags was related to the wind tunnel. Newey himself admitted upon his arrival that his new squad weren't able to get a model of the 2026 car into the wind tunnel until mid-April, putting them roughly four months behind their competitors.

Come pre-season testing and Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll claimed his new car was 'four seconds' behind the top teams (it seems four really isn't the magic number for Newey's squad this year).

As problems continue to crop up for Honda and Aston Martin, the full impact of Newey's bombshell arrival at the squad has been revealed, with one Honda spokesperson claiming that the former Red Bull star requested the PU manufacturer change 'everything' upon his official arrival to Aston Martin last year.

As quoted by Japanese publication Autosport Web, Honda's F1 project general manager Satoshi Tsunoda said: "Since Mr. Newey joined Aston Martin in March 2025, almost everything we have done has changed. We didn't change the engine structure, of course, but everything else changed, including how to attach it to the peripheral equipment and the car body."

One example of this was detailed by Tsunoda at the Honda and Aston Martin F1 team launch presentation that took place in Tokyo back in January.

At the event, Tsunoda explained the reason for Honda's two-tier battery, revealing that it was Newey who had requested such an overhaul of their PU design after his late arrival, and implying it was the Brit's request that put Honda up against the clock.

"As we progressed with the development of the new car, the team requested that we make it as compact as possible. We wanted to make it as short as possible (in overall length), so we adopted a two-tier configuration.

“Mr Newey asked, ‘Could we do it this way?’ For us, it was a case of running out of time…”

Though Tsunoda's admission isn't a sign of Honda directly laying the blame at Newey's door, it does sound as if this is an attempt to shift some accountability towards Aston Martin's new Managing Technical Partner and the high standards he famously upholds from team to team.

Honda and Aston Martin have a long road ahead of them and they cannot afford to be divided over their F1 operations, with Newey now firmly leading the team both on the technical side and as their newest team principal.