2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[nmarques71]

Lobato said the the problem was identified before the tests, even before Barcelona and they are trying to solve it, he said that the problem is not the the battery, the battery is the "victim" of the problem. I did not understand very well what he said, it´s in Spanish but it´s something related to how the battery is loaded.
I think this is what Andrew Newey is talking about, they can´t generate 250 Kmw because it breaks.
He also spoke about the strange noise coming from Fernando Alonso's engine, it is normal when they detect some anomaly, it is a precautionary system, rpm goes up before shuts down.
Ah, i understand now what he said, he was talking about the "ERS" Energy Recovery System.

[diffuser]

I’m not pointing my finger at anyone. I’m just trying to explain what I think the problem might be, based on the description Beson gave of what Newey said to the Commuission on Wednesday. You’ve prompted me to review the regulations, and I can see that a 350 kWh recharge is never allowed—it’s always 250 kWh. The 350 kWh figure refers to the deployment limit.

So that means, if Newey’s statement did indeed take place, there is more than just a software problem. It would mean he was saying that it can’t charge or deploy at the maximum limits.

The reason for him allegedly saying they couldnt regen at 250kW, let alone 350, is that they were talking about testing out an increase in the regen limit to 350, even though the current regs said 250. They talked about it on the TV broadcast. It was 100kW until October, then they increased it to 250.

Thx for that clarification. So that sounds as though the MGU-K just can't generate the kwhs, efficiency. I doudt it's the ICE not being able to spin the MGU-K fast enough. Under braking that could be a gearbox issue. Though it was just the kwh number specified, making it sound more electrical. You'd have thought that it was a problem solely under braking, they would have mentioned that.

[diffuser]

I’m not pointing my finger at anyone. I’m just trying to explain what I think the problem might be, based on the description Beson gave of what Newey said to the Commission on Wednesday. You’ve prompted me to review the regulations, and I can see that a 350 kWh recharge is never allowed—it’s always 250 kWh. The 350 kWh figure refers to the deployment limit.

So that means, if Newey’s statement did indeed take place, there is more than just a software problem. It would mean he was saying that it can’t charge or deploy at the maximum limits.

The reason for him allegedly saying they couldnt regen at 250kW, let alone 350, is that they were talking about testing out an increase in the regen limit to 350, even though the current regs said 250. They talked about it on the TV broadcast. It was 100kW until October, then they increased it to 250.

I wonder if they've caused some problems by changing the rules. Also, someone here mentioned Honda's recently introduced anti-lag system, which forced AM to redesign the rpm of the gearbox.

Well, guys, I don't understand anything anymore.

- They were thinking about tge 350kwh, they didn't actually change anything.
- RPM of the gearbox? Oh you probably mean gear ratios, not a big deal.They used to change those for every race in the old days.

[FNTC]

When they regen, the MGU-K acts as a battery charger. It can produce up to 350 kilowatts of power.
Think of it like a mobile phone or a laptop. They have lithium battery packs. The MGU-K acts as the charger you connect to the wall. If the laptop battery pack is designed to work with a charger up to for example 100 watts, if you plug a 200 watt charger to it, it will still cap it by the battery management system to max 100 watts. But if you already designed the pack to be able to handle 200 watts, and ship it with a 100 watt charger for cost reasons, you can plug in a 200w charger and double the charging speed.

So hypothetically, if Honda or Aston or both did not foresee that they might change the regs so that you could regen with the full 350 kilowatts of the MGU-K, then they are in trouble. The battery pack would overheat if you put 350kw into it if it was designed for a lower wattage.

3 days ago:
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-t ... ery-power/

Another change that has been proposed, though, is to increase how much the battery can be recovered with a super clip. Presently, the rules do not allow the MGU-K to run as a generator beyond 250kW, as this prevents reducing the overall engine power output and speed too much. But McLaren suggested that allowing the MGU-K to work at full capacity in reverse – so 350kW – would eliminate the need for lifting and coasting, for example. Teams have been invited to test super clipping at 350kW.

[diffuser]

When they regen, the MGU-K acts as a battery charger. It can produce up to 350 kilowatts of power.
Think of it like a mobile phone or a laptop. They have lithium battery packs. The MGU-K acts as the charger you connect to the wall. If the laptop battery pack is designed to work with a charger up to for example 100 watts, if you plug a 200 watt charger to it, it will still cap it by the battery management system to max 100 watts. But if you already designed the pack to be able to handle 200 watts, and ship it with a 100 watt charger for cost reasons, you can plug in a 200w charger and double the charging speed.

So hypothetically, if Honda or Aston or both did not foresee that they might change the regs so that you could regen with the full 350 kilowatts of the MGU-K, then they are in trouble. The battery pack would overheat if you put 350kw into it if it was designed for a lower wattage.

3 days ago:
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-t ... ery-power/

Another change that has been proposed, though, is to increase how much the battery can be recovered with a super clip. Presently, the rules do not allow the MGU-K to run as a generator beyond 250kW, as this prevents reducing the overall engine power output and speed too much. But McLaren suggested that allowing the MGU-K to work at full capacity in reverse – so 350kW – would eliminate the need for lifting and coasting, for example. Teams have been invited to test super clipping at 350kW.

The only problem with that analogy is that phones aren't designed to use up the whole battery's charge in the time it would normally take to charge it. The batteries in F1 are designed to despense 350kwh into the MGU-K. I could see how that and the reverse can cause overheating.

[Waz]

Any reason why Honda doesn't make the gearbox too?

And then, if you can already build a battery capable of a 250 kW recharge, surely increasing this to 350 kW isn't a major task? The biggest hurdle at this stage is the time needed to prove reliability.

[edu2703]

Any reason why Honda doesn't make the gearbox too?

Because the gearbox is an intrinsic part of the car's design, not the power unit. Honda cannot build a part on behalf of Aston Martin when they don't have detailed technical data on the car's design and rear suspension to build a gearbox that fits the car.

Only Aston Martin has these details, and that's why they have to build the gearbox.

[Waz]

Any reason why Honda doesn't make the gearbox too?

Because the gearbox is an intrinsic part of the car's design, not the power unit. Honda cannot build a part on behalf of Aston Martin when they don't have detailed technical data on the car's design and rear suspension to build a gearbox that fits the car.

Only Aston Martin has these details, and that's why they have to build the gearbox.

They used to buy Mercedes gearboxes with the rear suspension.

Aston Martin is the only team using Honda, so they can request specifics around the gearbox case. Or design that themselves.

[Badger]

Folks you have a gearbox that falls apart in a few km. Most of the recovery energy loss is in there. Max recovery is basically mass of the car and its speed. Braking recovery goes through gearbox, shaft and MGU-K that slow down the rear wheels directly.

If you can’t recover it’s not the ICE, at most the ICE doesn’t make you go as fast, but the ICE could be off and it wouldn’t change the energy recovery at all.

The two energy recovery limits that Honda couldn’t achieve, and which were mentioned in the Benson article, are related to the ICE spinning the MGU-K. There are no energy recovery limits while the car is on the brakes.

There is no such thing. The MGU-K is attached directly to the shaft via its own transmission, it doesn’t have any decoupling from propulsion.

You can only charge via MGUK if the wheels move, MGUK adds a magnetic field that makes the engine do more work for the same speed

That’s actually incorrect. The K is coupled to the crankshaft at the front of the engine, but the crankshaft can be disconnected from the driveshaft via the clutch at the back, thereby disconnecting the K from propulsion and allowing for standstill recharging. This construction is also why revving the engine high on downshifts is beneficial for charging, because high revs mean the crankshaft is spinning faster, ergo the K can harvest more.

However, what Benson was talking about with the 250kW and 350kW is likely super-clipping (250) and regenerative braking (350). Basically Honda can’t regenerate fully in either mode, which is a bit of a disaster and indicates a fundamental limitation in the hybrid system.

[max_speed]

Is it possible for FIA to disqualify honda for being such a bad manufacturer and force enginer supplier to provide engine to aston ?. I dnt think aston being lapped by new enntrants does F1 brand any good and they might become safety risk. Donkey racing in race of horses. I fully blame aston for this debacle. They did not learn from mclaren at all. Honda is good enough for 100cc bike and biat engines, they dnt deserve to be in F1. We dnt need GP3 manufacturers here.

[f1Follower]

Is it possible for FIA to disqualify honda for being such a bad manufacturer and force enginer supplier to provide engine to aston ?. I dnt think aston being lapped by new enntrants does F1 brand any good and they might become safety risk. Donkey racing in race of horses. I fully blame aston for this debacle. They did not learn from mclaren at all. Honda is good enough for 100cc bike and biat engines, they dnt deserve to be in F1. We dnt need GP3 manufacturers here.

In hybrid era Honda has sucked on the first attempt. Only after some sort of coping they understand the mistakes and fix their engine. However when RB was winning for fun they were not appreciated.

[diffuser]

Is it possible for FIA to disqualify honda for being such a bad manufacturer and force enginer supplier to provide engine to aston ?. I dnt think aston being lapped by new enntrants does F1 brand any good and they might become safety risk. Donkey racing in race of horses. I fully blame aston for this debacle. They did not learn from mclaren at all. Honda is good enough for 100cc bike and biat engines, they dnt deserve to be in F1. We dnt need GP3 manufacturers here.

It would take too long for this year. You'd have to start soon to build the 2027 car around a new PU. It wouldn't need the FIA. It would just need AMF1 to break the contract with Honda and sign a new one with another team. Basically a repeat of what McLaren did in 2017.

[diffuser]

The two energy recovery limits that Honda couldn’t achieve, and which were mentioned in the Benson article, are related to the ICE spinning the MGU-K. There are no energy recovery limits while the car is on the brakes.

There is no such thing. The MGU-K is attached directly to the shaft via its own transmission, it doesn’t have any decoupling from propulsion.

You can only charge via MGUK if the wheels move, MGUK adds a magnetic field that makes the engine do more work for the same speed

That’s actually incorrect. The K is coupled to the crankshaft at the front of the engine, but the crankshaft can be disconnected from the driveshaft via the clutch at the back, thereby disconnecting the K from propulsion and allowing for standstill recharging. This construction is also why revving the engine high on downshifts is beneficial for charging, because high revs mean the crankshaft is spinning faster, ergo the K can harvest more.

However, what Benson was talking about with the 250kW and 350kW is likely super-clipping (250) and regenerative braking (350). Basically Honda can’t regenerate fully in either mode, which is a bit of a disaster and indicates a fundamental limitation in the hybrid system.

Yeah I didn't want to argue that. F1 cars only use the clutch at the start of races and pitstops.

Soneone reply to that and said that the topic was mentioned on TV. They were talking about increasing recharge to 350kwh to which Newey replied that Honda couldn't even recharge at 250kwh yet.

[Badger]

There is no such thing. The MGU-K is attached directly to the shaft via its own transmission, it doesn’t have any decoupling from propulsion.

You can only charge via MGUK if the wheels move, MGUK adds a magnetic field that makes the engine do more work for the same speed

That’s actually incorrect. The K is coupled to the crankshaft at the front of the engine, but the crankshaft can be disconnected from the driveshaft via the clutch at the back, thereby disconnecting the K from propulsion and allowing for standstill recharging. This construction is also why revving the engine high on downshifts is beneficial for charging, because high revs mean the crankshaft is spinning faster, ergo the K can harvest more.

However, what Benson was talking about with the 250kW and 350kW is likely super-clipping (250) and regenerative braking (350). Basically Honda can’t regenerate fully in either mode, which is a bit of a disaster and indicates a fundamental limitation in the hybrid system.

Yeah I didn't want to argue that. F1 cars only use the clutch at the start of races and pitstops.

Soneone reply to that and said that the topic was mentioned on TV. They were talking about increasing recharge to 350kwh to which Newey replied that Honda couldn't even recharge at 250kwh yet.

Well the car is only standing still during starts and pit-stops, so the reply seemed necessary

Yes, Newey is of course talking about regular recharging whilst the car is moving.

[Leon Kennedy]

Is it possible for FIA to disqualify honda for being such a bad manufacturer and force enginer supplier to provide engine to aston ?. I dnt think aston being lapped by new enntrants does F1 brand any good and they might become safety risk. Donkey racing in race of horses. I fully blame aston for this debacle. They did not learn from mclaren at all. Honda is good enough for 100cc bike and biat engines, they dnt deserve to be in F1. We dnt need GP3 manufacturers here.

In hybrid era Honda has sucked on the first attempt. Only after some sort of coping they understand the mistakes and fix their engine. However when RB was winning for fun they were not appreciated.

It has never been the best engine, in 2021 Redbull won thanks to Max Verstappen and the great chassis, remember the big Mercedes engine? On the straights, they were 0.5 s faster in Brazil and Arabia. Verstappen was forced to adopt a low-downforce wing in Abu Dhabi to cope. Furthermore, the engine could have been developed until 2022, and RB Powertrain did so by gaining experience. Honda, however, continued to produce the engine due to operating costs.

Basically from 2019 to 2021 they made a good engine, never the best.

But I also have to be honest, this agreement was reached in 2023 after the Saudi GP, Honda was negotiating with McLaren and in the end accepted Aston because it was doing well. I also agreed at the time, because Honda was winning with Red Bull, and it still makes me laugh. It was said that Aston Martin was behind Red Bull because of their Mercedes addiction. Then we all know how that ended.

The problem that many don't say is that this situation was actually predictable, guys, some negative news came out that we have been toning down since the beginning of 2025.Not to mention they didn't use all the available budget in '23 and '24 for the engine.

How can you say they didn't have time? They've had three years and haven't made a decent engine. And now we're supposed to hope for the ADUO? I mean, they didn't do it in 3 years, will they do it in 6 months? Come on guys, we have to be realistic, if they do poorly in Melbourne, they'll always do poorly, that's the truth.