2026 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

[ispano6]

He's the Honda spokesperson. It's part of his duty to present a rosy view.
The fact that it's unknowable to us doesn't mean he couldn't have lied.


These numbers seem made up.

Lying while representing a global brand isn't a very good way to represent it. I'm sorry, but I prefer to trust the Japanese more.
30 hp ice, + 30 hp electric is already an estimate, and I don't know if there is anyone who thinks it is real number. After all, the Honda boss didn't give a specific number and said they didn't gain 50 hp with new engine. But he also said it's a big step, not a small one. Looking at it from that perspective, 30 hp seems like a reasonable estimate. Until we see the results with our own eyes, read the times on the screen, and hear statements from the team, we can only make some guesses. Maybe it will be more maybe less.

This is smile worthy. Speaking in the name of a global brand has to be one of the most dishonest tasks. It's all about toeing the corporate line.

You know nothing about Orihara. You obviously have bitterness against Honda. Clearly not a fan.
He joined Honda in 2003 as an engineer, he joined Honda F1 in 2013 after working on road cars for his first 10. He was part of the original F1 development engineering team all the way through 2025. His best memories are 2021 when Max and Honda won the Championship and ending the 2025 season on a high note.

[ispano6]

They're still being compare to RBPTs ICE. Since, nothing has changed in those 2 ICEs, nothing has changed.

Yes but the current bump in power would put Honda between 2-4% if everything goes smoothly. The 2nd round ADUO assumes Honda will still be in 8-10%. So Honda will have more budget and test bench hours despite being closer. Granted Others will bring upgrades now too like Ferrari so let's see.

Not sure. They already qualified for 2 more upgrades in 2027. The skipping 1 upgrade this year. So they get more upgrades in 2028?

Yasuaki Asaki recently revealed that he is looking forward to how the young engineers at Honda F1 will develop the new PU for the second half of the year and is looking forward to a result where the competition is surprised by what Honda is able to achieve. This is coming from the man who saved Honda F1, so it looks like they may still try and develop the PU and bring upgrades before the 2027 PU fuel flow change.

[diffuser]

It was a pointer to a possible scenario.
One much more likely than a positive one.
Hope I am wrong, but this Honda&Alonso we are talking about, it's cursed.

Funny how some people point to the 2015 handicap when the "much slower than before" engine was in third racing year, with unrestricted development.

I totally see where you are coming from when saying that this is a possible scenario.

Nope, not likely. Honda engineers are looking forward to Zandvoort.
Their latest video post reads "Don't worry, the Dutch GP is nearly here"

BTW "not likey" = "possible scenario."

[ispano6]

Funny how some people point to the 2015 handicap when the "much slower than before" engine was in third racing year, with unrestricted development.

I totally see where you are coming from when saying that this is a possible scenario.

Nope, not likely. Honda engineers are looking forward to Zandvoort.
Their latest video post reads "Don't worry, the Dutch GP is nearly here"

BTW "not likey" = "possible scenario."

The new power unit IS NOT weaker than the previous one. How these people claim that things can go "backward" is plain nonsense. Honda fans got the last laugh with the dominance RedBull Honda displayed in the previous regulations. I should have said nope, it's only going to get better from here.

[zoroastar]

Nope, not likely. Honda engineers are looking forward to Zandvoort.
Their latest video post reads "Don't worry, the Dutch GP is nearly here"

BTW "not likey" = "possible scenario."

The new power unit IS NOT weaker than the previous one. How these people claim that things can go "backward" is plain nonsense. Honda fans got the last laugh with the dominance RedBull Honda displayed in the previous regulations. I should have said nope, it's only going to get better from here.

dude, get a grip. theres not a single person in this forum thats a fan of aston martin honda, or alonso, that dont hope that honda builds the best PU asap. i cant wait for the day that you will be able to come in here and proclaim hondas utter dominance over all other companies ever created in the history of the world, or other worlds.

[TyreSlip]

https://global-honda.translate.goog/jp/ ... r_pto=wapp

[diffuser]

Nope, not likely. Honda engineers are looking forward to Zandvoort.
Their latest video post reads "Don't worry, the Dutch GP is nearly here"

BTW "not likey" = "possible scenario."

The new power unit IS NOT weaker than the previous one. How these people claim that things can go "backward" is plain nonsense. Honda fans got the last laugh with the dominance RedBull Honda displayed in the previous regulations. I should have said nope, it's only going to get better from here.

Yeah, that not what I meant. You used the term "Nope, not likey" disagreeing with the guy who said it was a "possible scenario.". Well those two terms mean the same thing.

[ispano6]

BTW "not likey" = "possible scenario."

The new power unit IS NOT weaker than the previous one. How these people claim that things can go "backward" is plain nonsense. Honda fans got the last laugh with the dominance RedBull Honda displayed in the previous regulations. I should have said nope, it's only going to get better from here.

Yeah, that not what I meant. You used the term "Nope, not likey" disagreeing with the guy who said it was a "possible scenario.". Well those two terms mean the same thing.

No I meant not a possible scenario to go backwards. Not likely to go backwards. They gained horsepower, not lost horsepower. Whatever the haters say, the new engine is an improvement. And it turns out Honda made updates to the battery and other parts. Subtle but meaningful.

[Petebass]

Yes but the current bump in power would put Honda between 2-4% if everything goes smoothly. The 2nd round ADUO assumes Honda will still be in 8-10%. So Honda will have more budget and test bench hours despite being closer. Granted Others will bring upgrades now too like Ferrari so let's see.

Not sure. They already qualified for 2 more upgrades in 2027. The skipping 1 upgrade this year. So they get more upgrades in 2028?

Yasuaki Asaki recently revealed that he is looking forward to how the young engineers at Honda F1 will develop the new PU for the second half of the year and is looking forward to a result where the competition is surprised by what Honda is able to achieve. This is coming from the man who saved Honda F1, so it looks like they may still try and develop the PU and bring upgrades before the 2027 PU fuel flow change.

I read that, like Audi, Honda will not introduce any further upgrades this year, despite having the opportunity to do so since they have only used one of their ADUO tokens. I think this year's upgrade is a "patch" for something that wasn't working properly (all related to combustion, which is why they have modified the pre-chamber, combustion chamber and reduced friction), while at the same time serving as a test for next year's engine. In parallel, I imagine that most of their efforts and resources have been focused on the 2027 engine for many months now—perhaps since Australia, or even earlier, because engines take a long time to develop. I also remember Newey's comments there about how they should be focusing on the 2027 engine.
On the other hand, Lobato said yesterday that they won't be bringing the upgraded gearbox to Zandvoort, contrary to the rumors, and that when they do introduce it, it will be somewhat lighter but otherwise unchanged, as they are happy with it.
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't expect much from this upgrade. If they were ahead of Cadillac and Williams in Hungary, a circuit where engine performance is not particularly important, then at Zandvoort, which does require a decent amount of engine power, even with the small engine improvement, I think they'll be in roughly the same place.

[BassVirolla]

It was a pointer to a possible scenario.
One much more likely than a positive one.
Hope I am wrong, but this Honda&Alonso we are talking about, it's cursed.

Funny how some people point to the 2015 handicap when the "much slower than before" engine was in third racing year, with unrestricted development.

I totally see where you are coming from when saying that this is a possible scenario.

Nope, not likely. Honda engineers are looking forward to Zandvoort.
Their latest video post reads "Don't worry, the Dutch GP is nearly here"

I'm not in camp of failure nor success, but we should account for the past record of the company, where overhaul did not equate to success.

In fact, I'm a fan of Honda road products, but F1 is a bit of a rollercoaster.

[SSJ4]

how do penalties work again during sprint weekends. assuming we'll be starting from the back cos of new components.
Does the penalty apply for the sprint race. Or is it just for the grand prix on sunday

[diffuser]

Yes but the current bump in power would put Honda between 2-4% if everything goes smoothly. The 2nd round ADUO assumes Honda will still be in 8-10%. So Honda will have more budget and test bench hours despite being closer. Granted Others will bring upgrades now too like Ferrari so let's see.

Not sure. They already qualified for 2 more upgrades in 2027. The skipping 1 upgrade this year. So they get more upgrades in 2028?

Yasuaki Asaki recently revealed that he is looking forward to how the young engineers at Honda F1 will develop the new PU for the second half of the year and is looking forward to a result where the competition is surprised by what Honda is able to achieve. This is coming from the man who saved Honda F1, so it looks like they may still try and develop the PU and bring upgrades before the 2027 PU fuel flow change.

The season ends on Dec. 6. Teams typically use new ICEs for Monza (the Netherlands ICE counts as “new” for Monza). They’ll then typically introduce the last new ICE around the United States GP (Oct. 23–25). There are 6 races from Netherlands to Singapore, 2 of the races have sprint races and the US GP would be the 7th.

Also, when they build these new ICEs, they can’t just build one per car. The old ICE will be so much slower than the new one that it’s pretty much useless for the remaining races, yes the old ICE could be used in FP. So they need to build extras “just in case” of accidents, etc.

Remember, all these parts have to be homologated, verified against the drawings, and stamped with FIA tags. So Honda has probably had to prepare two ICEs per car. If everything goes right, they already have enough new PUs to make it to the end of the year.

Honda preparation for the second half of the year probably only has another two weeks or 3 weeks left in it. After that they need to start manufacturing the new parts so they’re ready for Oct. 23. I don’t think that’s a likely scenario.

[ispano6]

Further upgrades can include non ICE parts, or portions of the ice that don't require a large overhaul. Asaki believes Honda hasn't quite gotten to the point where they were in the previous era with regard to high speed combustion. Orihara said in this upgrade they made the combustion faster. Asaki believes there is more to come and that the young engineers shouldn't wait for the 2027 ICE fuel flow rate to increase the combustion rate. In fact, you can develop the fuel without making too many hardware changes, so if they are still aiming to get to the previous level of highspeed combustion, then they do have time this year to make further improvements. Reliability improvements also equates to prolonged performance too.

[diffuser]

Further upgrades can include non ICE parts, or portions of the ice that don't require a large overhaul. Asaki believes Honda hasn't quite gotten to the point where they were in the previous era with regard to high speed combustion. Orihara said in this upgrade they made the combustion faster. Asaki believes there is more to come and that the young engineers shouldn't wait for the 2027 ICE fuel flow rate to increase the combustion rate. In fact, you can develop the fuel without making too many hardware changes, so if they are still aiming to get to the previous level of highspeed combustion, then they do have time this year to make further improvements. Reliability improvements also equates to prolonged performance too.

We were talking about parts that need the ADUO regs to be changed. You're creating a fog of hopes, approach and dreams to avoid saying that there will NOT be a 2nd round of ADUO upgrades by Honda for 2026.

[KimiRai]

Orihara

"In winter testing, as you know, we had a tough moment," he tells RacingNews365 as part of an exclusive interview. "But trackside, at the beginning of the season, our relationship was already good, thanks to Mike [Krack, Aston Martin chief trackside officer].

"They [Aston Martin] never complained to Honda. Of course, we are professional, so we are discussing what the problem is and how we should react, but they always respect Honda, so our relationship was good from the beginning of this year.

"Also, on the factory side, they had good communication at the beginning of this year, and they have improved communication — we were working more closely together when we had the problem with battery vibration issues.

"So I think our communication level or relationship has been getting better and better and better throughout the season."

"We had meetings between Japan — HRC Sakura — and Aston Martin every day when we had those problems; every day we had a meeting about what we should do," he shares.

"In winter testing, we had the battery issues, and that was the critical one. Without any countermeasures, we couldn't survive in rounds one, two and three.

"And then, between winter testing and round one, every day we had a discussion about what we should do, and then, together, we brought a countermeasure to round one, and then we survived. So that was happening in the background."

"This is not the first time Honda has worked with UK teams," he points out. "We have a lot of experience working with McLaren, working with Red Bull — also Italian teams.

"So we are quite experienced in working with UK outfits. So I think culture differences or language barriers do not matter.

"And then the relationship is... thanks to having tough moments, that has built up our relationship to be quite strong. So I think we are now in a good position in terms of the relationship between Honda and Aston Martin."

"If we are the top competitor, that is the best scenario," Orihara explains. "But on the other hand, if there is a big challenge, that gives us big motivation.

"At Honda, our spirit is always 'never give up', and as challenging as it is, we've got a big motivation.

"So, definitely not a happy situation [at the moment], but we are excited about how we can improve our performance and catch up to the top competitors at some point. So we are enjoying it."

Blame games are boring. Onwards and upwards.