2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[mzso]

Two things can happen: modify the engine to counter vibrations with tuned stiffness in the gears, mounts bearings etc or with dampeners. Could be the MGUK or the oil pump or the cam drive.. Or from combustion.. We do not know.. Or the second thing is obviously to modify the chassis side by either increasing stiffness to raise the naturalfrequency above that of the vibrations from the engine or add a few dampers here and there.

Both solutions will not be trivial!

The K can hardly be the origin. There's nothing to vibrate there. The ICE inherently vibrates, so it's likely transmitted to the battery. Whether it vibrates more then intended is a question mark.

Huugh!!

Reconsider what u just said.... Reallly reconsider.. U really don't have the tools to say this.
And vibrations work as a whole. Eveyrthing has to be considered together.


Remember this vibration was unforseen!!

The K is just an electric motor. Unless the rotor is defective it won't vibrate.
I don't see gears as the source of the problem either. The ICE has the linear moving parts at high speeds.

Unforeseen, sure. But I think it's more likely they underestimated how much effect the vibrations coming from the engine will have, how much they'll transmitted. And/or didn't do enough to balance their compacted engine, and thought it will be good enough.

The BSport video comes to mind of the Porsche 919, where the drivers were getting sick from the vibrations, and they had to design a new crankshaft.

[diffuser]

The FIA does, but they state in the regulations that they may send the changes to all the other manufacturers for verification. There is also pressure on the other manufacturers to approve the reliability updates, because if the team requesting the changes falls 2% or 4% behind, they will be allowed to bring significantly more resources to bear on the project.

The main pressure is other manufacturers rejecting your own request when your turn comes ( a.k.a mutually assured destruction). Honda can always put themselves into ADUO status at any time by choosing to operate the PU at a level 2% below the others.

They have no say in it. It's completely the FIA's decision.

That is true but the rules say that the FIA may choose to send the request to the other manufacturers.

[PlatinumZealot]

The K can hardly be the origin. There's nothing to vibrate there. The ICE inherently vibrates, so it's likely transmitted to the battery. Whether it vibrates more then intended is a question mark.

Huugh!!

Reconsider what u just said.... Reallly reconsider.. U really don't have the tools to say this.
And vibrations work as a whole. Eveyrthing has to be considered together.


Remember this vibration was unforseen!!

The K is just an electric motor. Unless the rotor is defective it won't vibrate.
I don't see gears as the source of the problem either. The ICE has the linear moving parts at high speeds.

Say no more!

I understand you more now. I have news for you though.


If you ever had to solve a real life vibration problem in a machine you will understand. I have had to deal with a few from electric motors. It's what the motor is driving, the speed changes, the mounting of it, the drive shafts, the loads... If you know. You know!

But all is not lost. I have found a random video from a search. No need to thank me.

[zoroastar]

Can Honda make changes at engine when ever want or FIA must allow first? When will fia allow changes?

There are reviews for being 2-4% being after races 6, 12, and 18. I think there's a separate thing where they might raise the budget cap if a team is so far behind they need to catch up.

So they will use this engine/battery up to race 6? But they will not finish any race before they fix these problems.

they can make changes for reliability. having a more reliable motor at this point will exponentially translate to more power. theyll be bringing tons of changes over the first few races before they even get to the ADUO upgrades.

[gearboxtrouble]

Note that its 2-4% back on ICE output, not total PU output. GPS acceleration traces from Bahrain showed the Honda able to accelerate on par with the Ferrari engined cars suggesting the primary performance issue stems from the battery limitation they have. If that's the case they might not get under the ADUO threshold and would have to rely on battery or ancillary related reliability fixes.

[diffuser]

Note that its 2-4% back on ICE output, not total PU output. GPS acceleration traces from Bahrain showed the Honda able to accelerate on par with the Ferrari engined cars suggesting the primary performance issue stems from the battery limitation they have. If that's the case they might not get under the ADUO threshold and would have to rely on battery or ancillary related reliability fixes.

The said the parts they're manipulating to try and fix the vibration have nothing to do with the homologation. In other words they can keep modifying them.

[LookingGlass]

With the current escalation involving Iran and the US, I’m curious what potential effects this could have on AMR given that Saudi Aramco is their sole fuel supplier for the 2026 regulations.

As I understand it:

- Aramco is headquartered in Saudi Arabia.

- Production capacity is tied at least partly to Saudi-based infrastructure, with a Spanish facility still scaling toward full operation.

While Aramco's sustainable fuel facility is unlikely to be directly targeted, there would be a risk Aramco would be a strategic target to overall hinder or cripple, either with a direct strike or disrupting supply lines.

I'd assume we'd see the FIA step in given the circumstances but how would this affect homologation of the fuels and engines/ADUO for AMR and the rest of the grid?

[edu2703]

With the current escalation involving Iran and the US, I’m curious what potential effects this could have on AMR given that Saudi Aramco is their sole fuel supplier for the 2026 regulations.

As I understand it:

- Aramco is headquartered in Saudi Arabia.

- Production capacity is tied at least partly to Saudi-based infrastructure, with a Spanish facility still scaling toward full operation.

While Aramco's sustainable fuel facility is unlikely to be directly targeted, there would be a risk Aramco would be a strategic target to overall hinder or cripple, either with a direct strike or disrupting supply lines.

I'd assume we'd see the FIA step in given the circumstances but how would this affect homologation of the fuels and engines/ADUO for AMR and the rest of the grid?

I believe that in an event where a fuel supplier is unable to supply fuel for some reason, the team will have to use the FIA's temporary fuel. Nobody knows what this fuel is, but obviously there will be a power penalty when using it instead of the fuel the ICE was designed to run on.

[peewon]

Note that its 2-4% back on ICE output, not total PU output. GPS acceleration traces from Bahrain showed the Honda able to accelerate on par with the Ferrari engined cars suggesting the primary performance issue stems from the battery limitation they have. If that's the case they might not get under the ADUO threshold and would have to rely on battery or ancillary related reliability fixes.

The said the parts they're manipulating to try and fix the vibration have nothing to do with the homologation. In other words they can keep modifying them.

Based on a statement I read from Honda employee, they don't know exactly what's the source of the problem as there are many variables and they are trying to isolate each and find it. So they aren't sure what's the cause yet. But they realise whatever the cause is, the solution has to come from changes to part which are not homologated.

During some of the earliest reports it was being said that they had cavitation issues. So it's quite possible some issues may not be fixable for the season. In that case what they will try to do is to provide a functional PU, maybe at the cost of some performance and then do the major overhaul in the offseason.

[edu2703]

[Emag]

Wow, I honestly never expected it to be this bad. I was afraid Honda would have been the weakest link in this project for the first year, but I was expecting maybe 10-15 hp down, not this absolute sh*tshow. Even 2015 was better than this.

[edu2703]

This is HRT level of embarrasment. The worst part is that this assumes Stroll and Alonso will be able to push the car in qualifying and stay within the 107% to be able to participate in the race.

I feel AM is only going to Australia because of contractual obligations, as I had said.

[FNTC]

This isn't exactly suprising considering the news in the last couple of weeks. Like I wrote last week:

Unless they miraculously get a working power unit in the next week, they will probably show up in Melbourne, treat it as a testing run and it will be a miracle if both cars finish the race, even if they try. But if qualy is a disaster they might just do a few laps of the race and retire too. We will see.

[TyreSlip]

That has to be the ultimate morale killer. Traveling all that way only to complete the formation lap.

[Nikosar]

If true then it is madness.