F1 2026: Adrian Newey Honda request at the heart of Aston Martin crisis

Photo: © IMAGO

Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey Honda request at the heart of Aston Martin F1 crisis

Honda and Aston Martin are on a long road to recovery

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 7 April 2026 09:56

An F1 insider has suggested that an Adrian Newey request to Honda was the root cause of Aston Martin's vibration problems.

Aston Martin have not only had to contend with the fact they are as slow as F1 newcomers Cadillac, but also the shameful reality that they cannot finish a race without risking both of their drivers suffering permanent nerve damage.

Lawrence Stroll's squad have been branded an 'all-time flop' as they face an uphill battle that could take between two and three years to overcome before Newey's squad are a competitive force in F1.

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First on the agenda however, is getting to the bottom of their Honda vibration problem and one F1 insider has a theory as to how it all started in the first place, one that Honda have also raised when attempting to point the finger of blame at Newey.

Was Newey the reason for Honda fail?

Aston Martin and Newey's woes were the hot topic on the recent episode of The Undercut podcast, where Damon Hill and Mark Hughes delved into their start to the 2026 season (and at times Newey's psyche!)

Hughes then delivered his theory on the vibration problem, and mused: "They think that part of the current Honda power unit vibration problem may be to do with the layout that Adrian asked them if it was possible to do when he arrived.

"Because he was quite late arriving last year and he wanted the power unit shortened. One way of doing that was to double stack the battery in the electronics and bring the MGU-K ahead of the engine rather than behind.

"Which creates all this lovely space to create downforce. Honda haven’t exactly put their finger on what the problem quite is yet - but it might be related to that."

Hill proceeded to eloquently paraphrase Hughes' findings, and said with a laugh: "So in other words, ‘we did what you said, and now it doesn’t work and we’ve got egg on our face'."

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F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey 2026 regulations Honda Damon Hill