Aston Martin to debut new Honda engine THIS WEEK at F1 track

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Aston Martin to debut new Honda engine THIS WEEK at F1 track

Whilst many teams on the grid head home after Hungary, Aston Martin are heading out to trial new Honda PU

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Monday 27 July 2026 21:45

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Honda have confirmed Aston Martin will get the chance to trial their upgraded power unit much earlier than expected ahead of the championship's upcoming summer shutdown.

Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix marked the 11th round of the 2026 campaign and the last race weekend until the end of August.

Every season, all F1 teams must adhere to a strict 14-day summer shutdown period where they are prohibited from working on their car or partaking in any activity which could be seen to give them a sporting advantage.

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Some constructors' even go as far as blocking their staff passes from being granted entry to their factories, encouraging the drivers and team members to enjoy what is a three-week break this year ahead of what could be a crazy second half of the calendar.

At last weekend's Hungarian GP, Aston Martin finally made some progress on their 2026 challenger which was designed by Adrian Newey, who spearheaded their major upgrades package which saw Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finish P13 and P14 respectively at the Hungaroring.

But whilst most of the teams will have packed up and headed home to enjoy the summer break, Aston Martin are gearing up to head back out on track in Hungary.

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Honda confirm Aston Martin will run new F1 engine days before summer break

After securing their best result of the season so far, Aston Martin's power unit provider Honda confirmed the team will get to try out their new and improved engine as soon as this week.

Having previously outlined this year's Dutch GP as the first time that Honda and Aston Martin will get to bring their first PU upgrade, as permitted following the FIA's ADUO ranking, the Japanese power unit providers have now confirmed they will be using the new engine for a filming day at the Hungaroring on Wednesday, July 29.

Explaining the next steps for Honda and Aston Martin's partnership, Shintaro Orihara, Honda's trackside general manager and chief engineer said: "In Hungary, we have been supporting the team with the power unit integration.

"We’ve also been able to collect vital data, which will help us come the next race.

"We will now take the important step of introducing our new-spec power unit in the Netherlands."

He then confirmed the squad will be staying behind in Hungary ahead of a filming day, where Newey's upgraded chassis will be fitted with their new PU.

"Before then, during Wednesday’s filming day, we will run the new engine in the AMR26 for the first time, before the summer shutdown commences."

The team will then have to wait until the jam-packed sprint weekend at Zandvoort next month to see how the two major upgrades packages work alongside one another under competitive conditions.

When is the F1 2026 Dutch Grand Prix?

Following Sunday's Hungarian GP, the F1 2026 championship will take a three-week break before the European leg of the calendar continues.

This means the next race isn't until the Dutch Grand Prix on August 23, but don't worry, the race weekend action will actually commence on Friday, August 21.

The first and only practice session at Zandvoort will kick off the day at 12:30 local time (CEST) before sprint qualifying.

The sprint weekend format will then continue with the Dutch sprint race and a grand prix qualifying taking place on Saturday, August 22.

Then, the 12th round of the championship will see the main event at the Dutch GP take place on Sunday, August 23, with a lights out time of 3pm CEST, which is 2pm BST.

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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