Honda chief reveals Aston Martin 'not satisfied' as engine giants call for more time

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Aston Martin

Honda chief reveals Aston Martin 'not satisfied' as engine giants call for more time

Aston Martin have had a disastrous start to 2026

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 22 June 2026 17:57

Honda Racing chief Koji Watanabe has revealed the Aston Martin project has fallen well below Honda's expectations after a shocking start to 2026.

Having entered into a power unit partnership ahead of 2026 with Honda, Aston Martin have been struggling with both reliability and performance issues.

The team have only managed to score one point from the opening seven grand prix weekends, and are sat down in 10th in the constructors' championship.

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Their struggles could not have been more evident than at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Fresh off the back of their first point of the season in Monaco, hopes would have been high, but Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso qualified down in 21st and 22nd respectively, before neither of them managed to finish the race.

While most of the issues have been put down to Honda's power unit, there is a general understanding that Adrian Newey's AMR26 chassis design is also suboptimal, with an F1 insider recently revealing that the team would only be fighting with the likes of Haas and Alpine even if they had a Mercedes power unit.

Now, Honda Racing chief Watanabe has suggested that talks are ongoing with the big names within the team, including Newey and team owner Lawrence Stroll, as the two entities work to try and turn around the so far unsatisfactory season.

Watanabe in talks with Aston Martin owner Stroll

"The partnership with Aston Martin is quite new and I think that it takes time to build a strong partnership," Watanabe told F1.com.

"We are on the way to build the strong and constructive partnership with Aston Martin. I often communicate with Lawrence Stroll - and the honest communication makes our partnership stronger.

"He strongly believes in Honda's capability. Of course, he's not satisfied and I'm not satisfied with the current situation but we discuss often how we can recover the current situation, including the PU performance and the chassis performance and team operation and everything to return to the position where we want."

Watanabe steadfast in Aston Martin future hopes

Watanabe stressed though that Honda were not shying away from the Aston Martin challenge, stressing they are in F1 for the long haul.

"There is no change in our evaluation or our commitment to HRC or motorsport activities at this stage," Watanabe added.

"Taking the challenge of Formula 1 remains part of Honda's DNA – and it has not changed. We have a long-term commitment."

He added: "The Honda management take the current situation very seriously and are not satisfied with the current results. There is a shared understanding that improvement is necessary and at the same time, there is also a clear understanding that the project must be evaluated over the mid-to-long term period, not this year.

"The management continue to provide a strong support and expectation with a focus on the process of solving the challenge we face."

Will Adrian Newey turn things around for Aston Martin?

Honda have been handed somewhat of a lifeline through the FIA's additional development and upgrade opportunities (ADUO) scheme, being handed two extra homologations.

But it's becoming clear that their struggles may not solely be down to the power unit.

Design legend Newey joined the team in March 2025 and now has the job of trying to turn their fortunes around after a disastrous start, focusing on the initial flaws of his AMR26 design.

Aston Martin have signed the likes of Newey and Enrico Cardile in recent years, and will now hope that they can work with Honda to help turn things around for the team by bringing upgrades to the AMR26.

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