2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[Rasoose]

But even with a good Honda engine, I believe they will have gearbox or other issue, they are lacking massive numbers of laps to be ready

I suspect running the PU in lower modes to save the gearbox and get some running, might have delayed them discovering the battery issue. The lack of laps, and none at full power, may have a domino effect and turn the first several rounds into glorified tests.

Even in Australia they may need to run at lower power if the gearbox fix is still being worked on.

[SealTheRealDeal]

>new regs
>Aston starting the year with a stinker
>Many promising recent hires, but they need time to acclimate to the team
>their WDC driver is iffy on if he'll continue past this season

...so 2027 will be a good year provided Lance breaks his arm again over the winter?

Edit: and Aston's reserve driver would need to get a race seat at an American F1 team, and Jak Crawford would solve Cadillac's desire for an American driver so maybe that's not too big of a hurdle.

[Rasoose]

What about HRC Milton Keynes employees how many of them left Honda? Also RBPT was making rebadged Honda engines so they had to know how it works etc.

RBPT only took over building the battery pack(using the design from late '21), which is all that was built at the Milton Keynes facility.
Everything else continued being produced in Sakura by Honda.

[Artur Craft]

Reported on BBC…….
Several sources told BBC Sport this week that Newey said at Wednesday's meeting of the F1 Commission - a rule-making body comprising all the teams as well as F1 and the FIA - that the Honda could not even recover at the lower limit of 250kw, let alone the higher one of 350kw, which comes into force under certain circumstances in the highly complex rules.

unbelievable !!!

Honda should buy the engine and transmission blueprints from Mercedes or Ferrari. otherwise AMR will be sick for 3 years like mclaren.

Maybe it would be easier for AM to just go back to Mercedes ?

[Rikrikrik]

This situation is so unbealiveable im starting to believe in that conpiracy theory about Honda builded a ridiculous engine proposily to make Alonso leaves

[ispano6]

Kakuda explaining how this PU is nothing like the previous. Like Kakuda, there are still many of the key people in the F1 program from the previous era that were recruited or assigned back. I do wish we had Tanabe.
https://global.honda/en/F1/features/202 ... ry/kakuda/

[davidfroshanzen]

Reported on BBC…….
Several sources told BBC Sport this week that Newey said at Wednesday's meeting of the F1 Commission - a rule-making body comprising all the teams as well as F1 and the FIA - that the Honda could not even recover at the lower limit of 250kw, let alone the higher one of 350kw, which comes into force under certain circumstances in the highly complex rules.

unbelievable !!!

Honda should buy the engine and transmission blueprints from Mercedes or Ferrari. otherwise AMR will be sick for 3 years like mclaren.

Maybe it would be easier for AM to just go back to Mercedes ?

nope, merc have 3 costumer, maybe redbull-ford or ferrari.

[zoroastar]

Sorry, but I can't imagine Max, Charles, Lewis, or any other top-tier driver being as patient as spaniard was during the Mclaren-Honda era. Sticking with the team, hoping, working hard (and yes, being occasionally cynical on the radio when full of adrenaline, while being helplessly overtaken by everyone left and right). Drivers usually complain and scream on the team-radio for minor annoyances during the race...

yeah, alonso showed a lot of patience back then that he didnt get credit for. some people are such big brand loyalists that theyll hold a grudge about anyone who would ever dare speak ill of their brand. i guess he coulda always just left and drove for haas, who were regularly beating mclaren back then with that ferrari PU in the back

Yeah, super F-ing patient... Whining all the time, throwing mud at Honda, meanwhile claiming they have the best chassis, hand-in-hand with Boullier. They of course got trashed with the Renault engine with the "best chassis". Meanwhile they were even reports of Alonso calling some of the shots within the team...
It was so toxic that I actually rooted for McLaren to fail, which they did spectacularly. And didn't at all felt sorry for him. He deserved what he got. With his behavior and attitude only McLaren wanted him in the first place, so he had nowhere to go but away from F1. (Until Renault got desperate enough)

When I credit Tost, I am crediting how Honda MEGA appreciated Tost's respectfulness and approach. None of this blame game that Alonso and his camp seem to always bring.

Sorry, but I can't imagine Max, Charles, Lewis, or any other top-tier driver being as patient as spaniard was during the Mclaren-Honda era. Sticking with the team, hoping, working hard (and yes, being occasionally cynical on the radio when full of adrenaline, while being helplessly overtaken by everyone left and right). Drivers usually complain and scream on the team-radio for minor annoyances during the race...

Seriously? How do you guys have such gross hallucinations? Alonso was one of the all tie most toxic drivers at that time.
Leclerc (foolishly) tied himself to a team that constantly lets him down, with the car, strategies, and team orders. Yet he hardly said a bad word.

who cares? that was 11 years ago. leclerc has never had anything close to the disaster that was that era of mclaren honda. ferrari only getting 1 or 2 wins in a season is the definition of a bad year for leclerc. its not even in the same ballpark. you put that kind of organizational failure in any sport to any top athlete, and youre gonna get some drama, if the guy has a heart and a pulse. sorry it upset so many fanboys feelings

[Paa]

Aston Martin and Adrian Newey are not doing themselves any favors by airing Honda's affairs here....That is absolutely one way to sour the relationship. What leaked from the F1 commmision meeting should not have leaked.

I think Newey is under a lot of pressure. Expectation were unrealistically high towards him and then the first showing is unexpectedly bad. The contrast is huge.

I just read 1-2 days ago he said they will have the best aero by the 2nd half of the season.
This is so uncharacteristic from him. Usually he is really modest and restrains himself from definitive statements. Usually rather talking about challenges not resulst.
So seeing him talking like that tells me he must be in a very uncomfortable place right now.

[makecry]

Aston Martin and Adrian Newey are not doing themselves any favors by airing Honda's affairs here....That is absolutely one way to sour the relationship. What leaked from the F1 commmision meeting should not have leaked.

I think Newey is under a lot of pressure. Expectation were unrealistically high towards him and then the first showing is unexpectedly bad. The contrast is huge.

I just read 1-2 days ago he said they will have the best aero by the 2nd half of the season.
This is so uncharacteristic from him. Usually he is really modest and restrains himself from definitive statements. Usually rather talking about challenges not resulst.
So seeing him talking like that tells me he must be in a very uncomfortable place right now.

Has he actually said it or you saw one of those unsubstantiated twitter posts. Newey is an incredibly intelligent person, and I have never seen people of that caliber make such definitive statements.

[f1isgood]

Aston Martin and Adrian Newey are not doing themselves any favors by airing Honda's affairs here....That is absolutely one way to sour the relationship. What leaked from the F1 commmision meeting should not have leaked.

I think Newey is under a lot of pressure. Expectation were unrealistically high towards him and then the first showing is unexpectedly bad. The contrast is huge.

I just read 1-2 days ago he said they will have the best aero by the 2nd half of the season.
This is so uncharacteristic from him. Usually he is really modest and restrains himself from definitive statements. Usually rather talking about challenges not resulst.
So seeing him talking like that tells me he must be in a very uncomfortable place right now.

He is not at Red Bull any longer. Horner knew how to get the best out of him by letting him do his thing. He was in and out of the F1 project and it was nothing like this.

Its also easier to do things when you have a really good technical team who can do things on their own like at Red Bull. Aston Martin might have all the talent but so far nothing indicates they have it figured out how to work in harmony.

Its tricky but its what he signed up for.

[zoroastar]

Aston Martin and Adrian Newey are not doing themselves any favors by airing Honda's affairs here....That is absolutely one way to sour the relationship. What leaked from the F1 commmision meeting should not have leaked.

I think Newey is under a lot of pressure. Expectation were unrealistically high towards him and then the first showing is unexpectedly bad. The contrast is huge.

I just read 1-2 days ago he said they will have the best aero by the 2nd half of the season.
This is so uncharacteristic from him. Usually he is really modest and restrains himself from definitive statements. Usually rather talking about challenges not resulst.
So seeing him talking like that tells me he must be in a very uncomfortable place right now.

He is not at Red Bull any longer. Horner knew how to get the best out of him by letting him do his thing. He was in and out of the F1 project and it was nothing like this.

Its also easier to do things when you have a really good technical team who can do things on their own like at Red Bull. Aston Martin might have all the talent but so far nothing indicates they have it figured out how to work in harmony.

Its tricky but its what he signed up for.

a lot of that is probably true, but honestly, we are making assumptions on the chassis and aero based on a bad power unit. it may be one of the best designs newey has ever produced with a team, and we would have no idea at this point.

[zoroastar]

at this point im skeptical that they can build a competitive power unit with a second try. it seems incredible. if they are unable to even achieve 250kw from their bread and butter hybrid tech. i thought the ICU was the problem

[Paa]

Has he actually said it or you saw one of those unsubstantiated twitter posts. Newey is an incredibly intelligent person, and I have never seen people of that caliber make such definitive statements.

Yes, I agree. It is really uncharacteristic, this is why it stuck me that he might be under a lot of pressure to say something like that.

But you are probably right, I only saw that in some translated articles in my country. Now I wanted to find the original, but the closes I found is this: https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/adrian ... test-woes/

According to a report by DAZN commentator Antonio Lobato from inside the pit-lane at pre-season testing in Bahrain, Newey has now set a timeline for when he expects Aston Martin to emerge with the “best chassis on the grid”.

It is not a direct quote from him so my above analysis was based on a clickbait title.

[edu2703]

Maybe it would be easier for AM to just go back to Mercedes ?

No engine manufacturer wants to supply an engine to a team that has Adrian Newey.

According to FIA rules, if a team is left without an engine agreement for the season, the manufacturer with the fewest customers is selected to supply it. Guess which one it will be? Honda with none.

Very unlikely, but the only possibility with minimal chance of happening is to beg Audi for an engine. Audi would even like to have a customer team, but I don't know if they would be fans of the idea of ​​a team winning with their engine before them. Probably not.

I find it extremely unlikely for AM to break the agreement with Honda after only one year, even if the situation is at rock bottom. All the investment and money spent and invested would go down the drain, not to mention the heavy fines and the difficulty of finding another engine.