2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[Otromundo]

The Honda is a long way behind the other power units - something in the region of of about 1.5secs per lap off the best, Aston Martin believe internally.

The impending upgrade will not narrow that gap completely. But it is hoped that it will narrow about a third of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... 9e188m751o
.../...
https://autoracer.it/aston-martin-amr26 ... uo-valere/

It's gonna be hard to tell cause AMR F1 are bringing more aero updates.

There lies part of my hopes for improvement: that they manage to partially make up for the lack of power through better aerodynamics. Something that would be the best way to get power out of nothing.

Things have gotten really interesting. On the first serious attempt, they improved traction, tire wear, and therefore the car's handling. It's lacking speed and apparently also 'quite a bit' of power. Improving the aerodynamics could be a game-changer from now on, it would really help the engine's development.

[FNTC]

Who cares if they use the old car with the old engine in the tire test today? Why risk damaging the new parts before they have the new engine?
The filming day with the new chassis and new PU is tomorrow.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/honda-eng ... ay-hungary

“It is a good opportunity to check the new power unit in the new chassis, by using the filming day,” Orihara told PlanetF1.com and others in Budapest.

“200 kilometres. That is a good opportunity to check how the new engine works in the chassis.”

[diffuser]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hond ... hatgpt.com
Motorsport reported that July 29, 2026 (Wednesday): Filming day at the Hungaroring with the updated RA626H

But that's 200km-s max. Most of it might be eaten up by getting the new PU working properly.

The rules are the rules, there are no other options. anyways it is 2/3irds of a race distance. most races are around 300kms long. I doudt they have any problems getting the PU running, Remember it has been running in R& D for a while now.

[mzso]

My guess is they don't think they're gonna have anything worth while. Plus this update comes out at the end of August, leaving you with 3.5 months in the year? That's probably the lead time on a new ICE. The first 2 months they're gonna be pulling all kind of data on this new ICE, evaluating what need to be improved. There really isn't enough time

Maybe they'll change their minds if they find something substantial.

Who cares if they use the old car with the old engine in the tire test today? Why risk damaging the new parts before they have the new engine?
The filming day with the new chassis and new PU is tomorrow.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/honda-eng ... ay-hungary

“It is a good opportunity to check the new power unit in the new chassis, by using the filming day,” Orihara told PlanetF1.com and others in Budapest.

“200 kilometres. That is a good opportunity to check how the new engine works in the chassis.”

They have two cars. And they need lots of laps to test and figure out and tune the new spec. Plus they would have better understanding before they put in the new PU.
They also have the old car as a backup, in case the driver crashed it.

The rules are the rules, there are no other options. anyways it is 2/3irds of a race distance. most races are around 300kms long. I doudt they have any problems getting the PU running, Remember it has been running in R& D for a while now.

I still remember the winter testing.

[diffuser]

My guess is they don't think they're gonna have anything worth while. Plus this update comes out at the end of August, leaving you with 3.5 months in the year? That's probably the lead time on a new ICE. The first 2 months they're gonna be pulling all kind of data on this new ICE, evaluating what need to be improved. There really isn't enough time

Maybe they'll change their minds if they find something substantial.

Maybe but I doubt it. They've come out and said it, kind of drew a line in the sand. It just wastes resources, IMHO.

They have two cars. And they need lots of laps to test and figure out and tune the new spec. Plus they would have better understanding before they put in the new PU.
They also have the old car as a backup, in case the driver crashed it.

The rules are the rules, there are no other options. anyways it is 2/3irds of a race distance. most races are around 300kms long. I doudt they have any problems getting the PU running, Remember it has been running in R& D for a while now.

I still remember the winter testing.

LOL
The systems are much more mature now. so many more KMs. Should be easy peasy lemon squeezey to get the started. With the Dyno time, there shouldn't be any reliability issues. if there are they have time to fix them before Netherlands.

[F1RAM]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hond ... hatgpt.com
Motorsport reported that July 29, 2026 (Wednesday): Filming day at the Hungaroring with the updated RA626H

But that's 200km-s max. Most of it might be eaten up by getting the new PU working properly.

The rules are the rules, there are no other options. anyways it is 2/3irds of a race distance. most races are around 300kms long. I doudt they have any problems getting the PU running, Remember it has been running in R& D for a while now.

The main aim of the filming day will be to check the integration of the new pu with the new chassis and identifying any unwanted parameters whether its temperature, vibration, energy management, drivability etc. No need to do a full race distance to identify those. And if they found any weird behaviour, they will have further few days to iron them out.

[diffuser]

But that's 200km-s max. Most of it might be eaten up by getting the new PU working properly.

The rules are the rules, there are no other options. anyways it is 2/3irds of a race distance. most races are around 300kms long. I doudt they have any problems getting the PU running, Remember it has been running in R& D for a while now.

The main aim of the filming day will be to check the integration of the new pu with the new chassis and identifying any unwanted parameters whether its temperature, vibration, energy management, drivability etc. No need to do a full race distance to identify those. And if they found any weird behaviour, they will have further few days to iron them out.

I'm sure if they let them run for 8 hrs, they'd do it.

[V10FURY]

Team needs a solid day tomorrow with the new B spec car and B spec motor, with hopefully no major issues. The Honda PU is severely down on power and harvesting, which means it is not just horsepower they need to find, but recharging and deployment as well. The engine was around 30-40hp short of the other weakest engines, prior to ADOU, but massively down on recharging and deployment. If Honda can find 30-40hp which seems the most optimistic take, they must also get to the 350kw recharging number, if they haven’t already. With updated aero looking promising, new updates at 3 more races, a PU that can match Audi, the team should be challenging for 10th at less power hungry tracks.

[TyreSlip]

Any idea why the team used the old spec car for the tyre test today?

[Rikrikrik]

Any idea why the team used the old spec car for the tyre test today?

risky to damage the new parts for nothing, they cant collect any data from pirelli's tests. Probably tomorrow they will use the new spec with the new engine in the 200km filming day

[diffuser]

Any idea why the team used the old spec car for the tyre test today?

risky to damage the new parts for nothing, they cant collect any data from pirelli's tests. Probably tomorrow they will use the new spec with the new engine in the 200km filming day

You're not allowed to use current spec car in tire test.
The key point is that the regulations distinguish between:

• Current race cars used in Grands Prix.

• Tyre test "mule" cars, which are based on older or specially authorized chassis and modified to replicate the loads expected from future regulations.

For tests like today's, the teams use these authorized mule cars because:

• the FIA wants the session to generate tyre data rather than provide an opportunity for current-car development;

• the cars can be modified (weight, aerodynamics, suspension, etc.) to mimic the characteristics of next year's regulations and tyres.

That's what I remember.

[F1RAM]

Mule cars were used last year to test this years new reg cars... Next year the downforce will reduce, but pace difference will not be that much. So no need for mule cars.
The photos uploaded by Aston prove that.

They are allowed to use the parts previously used/tested in an official session.. no new parts.

[Ashwinv16]

By the way both cars will incure atelast a 10-15 place grid penalty due to the new mguk as that would exceed the allocation.

[peewon]

The Honda is a long way behind the other power units - something in the region of of about 1.5secs per lap off the best, Aston Martin believe internally.

The impending upgrade will not narrow that gap completely. But it is hoped that it will narrow about a third of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... 9e188m751o

However, according to what AutoRacer learned, the step that the Japanese motorist will take on the track will not be marginal, but should guarantee a performance increase in the order of half a second per lap, equivalent to 35 hp. Of course, since the gap is very wide from the top in terms of power (we are talking about 90 hp), with this new specification we should not think that Honda is going to close the gap with other engines

https://autoracer.it/aston-martin-amr26 ... uo-valere/

90HP sounds exaggerated. The rule of thumb used to be 1% power = 0,15s of lap time on average. So if you are losing 1,5s of time because of engine power that would be a 10% deficit, or in this case around 40kW (54HP). That may be closer to 1s in Hungary and more like 2s on a track like Spa.

Keep in mind Alonso was only 1,8s behind in Q1 in Hungary.

Everyone is throwing out wildly different numbers which is an indication they have no clue. Honda and its acolytes also have previous form in terms of being over-optimistic in their predictions. A hefty dose of realism and reason is needed here. I think anything close to a 20 HP upgrade (running reliably) would be a very good start.

Just searching for some figures on this shows about 0.016-0.0175 sec/hp.

From: https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/31942251

And:

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comme ... a_current/

So that would correlate to about 90 HP deficit. Maybe the split has altered the calculations a bit. The fact that they are predicting a 0.5s improvement from 35hp also suggests that 1% for 0.15 s isnt valid for this formula at least.

[ispano6]

The Honda is a long way behind the other power units - something in the region of of about 1.5secs per lap off the best, Aston Martin believe internally.

The impending upgrade will not narrow that gap completely. But it is hoped that it will narrow about a third of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... 9e188m751o

However, according to what AutoRacer learned, the step that the Japanese motorist will take on the track will not be marginal, but should guarantee a performance increase in the order of half a second per lap, equivalent to 35 hp. Of course, since the gap is very wide from the top in terms of power (we are talking about 90 hp), with this new specification we should not think that Honda is going to close the gap with other engines

https://autoracer.it/aston-martin-amr26 ... uo-valere/

90HP sounds exaggerated. The rule of thumb used to be 1% power = 0,15s of lap time on average. So if you are losing 1,5s of time because of engine power that would be a 10% deficit, or in this case around 40kW (54HP). That may be closer to 1s in Hungary and more like 2s on a track like Spa.

Keep in mind Alonso was only 1,8s behind in Q1 in Hungary.

Everyone is throwing out wildly different numbers which is an indication they have no clue. Honda and its acolytes also have previous form in terms of being over-optimistic in their predictions. A hefty dose of realism and reason is needed here. I think anything close to a 20 HP upgrade (running reliably) would be a very good start.

Engines are about 1000hp so yes 10% / 90HP seems right

If they are still 50hp down after the upgrade it will still be difficult to do something.

Maybe for 2027 being only 20-30hp down and close the gap in 2028

Can you explain where you got 10% and why are you comparing it to 1000HP?
ADUO is for the ICE only. Here are the ranges for ADUO and the allowances they get:

The number of in‑season upgrades scales with the deficit —
2–4% adrift gets two upgrades in 2026 and 2027;
4–6% gets four;
6–8% gets six;
8–10% gets eight

As far as I know, the FIA granted Honda 2 upgrade allowance, that puts them in 2-4% from the top ICE.
Assumming the top ICE makes 500HP
2–4% of 500 horsepower ranges from 10 HP to 20 HP
4-6% is 20HP to 30HP
6-8% is 30HP to 40 HP

2-4% is still 20 to 40HP out of of 1000 horsepower
4-6% is 40HP to 60HP
6-8% is 60HP to 80 HP

Now, if they are in the 6-8% range, they get 6 ADUO allowances? Is this number correct?


From ASWEB

—— I heard you plan to introduce a new engine at the 12th round, the Dutch GP. I believe the trigger for this was the new system 'ADUO (Additional Development Upgrade Opportunities)' applied to power unit development starting in 2026. This system allows PU manufacturers who are lagging behind competitors to take multiple measures to accelerate their development if their performance is judged to be 2–4% or more lower than competitors. How was it when the FIA notified you of this? Were you shocked to find that it doesn't produce so much horsepower compared to the top engine? Or was it within expectations based on various data?

Shintaro Orihara, Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer (hereafter, GM Orihara): "Well, it was within expectations. We had a rough grasp of the competitiveness, so we understood how much we were losing. The figures from the FIA were almost the same as what we had known, so I think they are reasonable figures."