Adrian Newey, Aston Martin, Bahrain, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

Aston Martin F1

Aston Martin F1 crisis: Adrian Newey unleashes Honda fury and reveals the shocking truth

The team principal did not hold back in a Melbourne press conference

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 6 March 2026 13:50 Updated: 13:57

An exasperated Adrian Newey has revealed all on F1 engine supplier Honda as Aston Martin's crisis deepens at the Australian Grand Prix.

Four seconds behind. Leaving testing early. And now those vibrations...yep, 2026 isn't Aston Martin's year.

Team principal Newey was forced to face the music in Melbourne, after concerning reports emerged about the battery in the Honda PU and the team being unable to complete the Australian GP.

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Far from shrinking from the limelight, Newey laid bare all that was wrong with the Honda engine, and the vibrations into the chassis that could cause nerve damage to Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso if they complete a full race distance (yes, that's as bad as it sounds).

During the team principal press conference on Friday, Newey was naturally the star of the show, and he wasn't holding back with his answers, even admitting to feeling 'powerless'.

"I think it’s one where I kind of feel a bit powerless because, clearly, we’ve got a very significant PU problem, and our lack of running then also means at the same time we’re not finding out about the car," Newey explained.

"So, our information on the car itself is very limited because we’ve done so little running, and particularly running at low fuel, because running at low fuel… Fuel acts as a damper to the battery. Honda have limited us very much to how much low fuel running we can do.

"It just becomes a self-feeding problem. And of course it’s using a lot of energy, in the human sense as opposed to the kilowatt sense, on our part to try to work with Honda and to produce the best overall solution, because we can turn around and say, 'Well, it’s not our problem,' but it is our problem because ultimately the car is the combination of chassis and PU."

Newey: 'Aston unaware of inexperienced Honda'

Newey was then asked if there was any indication that Honda would be such a mess, to which the Brit dished the full ugly story, warts and all.

He said: "I think, okay, the first question, a bit of history is important there. Honda pulled out at the end of 2021. They then re-entered the sport, kind of, at the end of 2022, so over roughly a year, a year and a bit, out of competition.

"When they reformed, a lot of the original group had, it now transpires, disbanded and gone to work on solar panels or whatever, and so a lot of the group that reformed are actually fresh to Formula 1. They didn’t bring the experience that they had had previously.

"Plus, when they came back in 2023, that was the first year of the budget cap introduction for engines, so all their rivals had been developing away through ’21, ’22 with continuity, their existing team, and free of budget cap.

Honda struggling to play catchup

"They re-entered with, let’s say, only, I’m guessing, 30 per cent of their original team, and now in a budget cap era, so they started very much on the back foot and unfortunately, they’ve struggled to catch back up."

When asked if Aston Martin were aware of the lack of experience at Honda when the deal was signed, and if not, would the agreement have been made, Newey once again didn't hold back.

He replied bluntly: "No, we weren’t. We only really became aware of it in November of last year when Lawrence, Andy Cowell and myself went to Tokyo to discuss rumours starting to suggest that their original target power they wouldn’t achieve for race one.

"And out of that came the fact that many of the original workforce had not returned when they restarted. So, no is the answer."

Aston Martin Adrian Newey Australian Grand Prix Honda