Bisonas wrote: ↑26 Aug 2026, 01:33
I don’t think Newey is being very diplomatic at the moment regarding Honda.
I believe that he is either kind of furious or just disappointed with Honda, and is letting others, like Mike Krack, for example, be the diplomats and the motivational talkers, while he is trying to keep his distance from sweet-talking Honda too much. Perhaps he doesn’t want to let them get too comfortable or reassured until they deliver the results he wants to see. In his own way, he is trying to stay firm in his demands from Honda.
It did strike me as a bit odd that, in his post-race message to Alonso over the radio, he only mentioned the people at Silverstone and not those at Sakura, with Alonso also only mentioning the people at Silverstone and not Sakura. In a race where the upgraded Honda engine was so heavily discussed and all eyes were on the Honda engine, it did strike me as a bit odd.
The conspiracy theorist in me believes that he is doing this on purpose, reminding everyone at Sakura that this partnership is results-driven and that nothing is guaranteed, regardless of what the contracts say. Who knows? Maybe there are engine-performance exit clauses in those contracts for AMR.
Now, rumors are emerging that AMR is talking to Mercedes again. IMO, Newey just wants results, and by keeping the pressure on and all eyes on Sakura, he believes he will get those results sooner—or at least get an indication sooner of whether Honda is up to the task and worth their patience.
When AMR decided to bring the B-Spec to Hungary, I was a bit skeptical. We knew that many of the upgraded parts were actually ready a lot sooner, and they could have tried them on the car at earlier races for testing. In my eyes, it was a strategic decision, like the one Newey would make, in order not to reveal anything aero-wise or chassis-wise to the competition, since AMR probably would not have seen any immediate points benefit from them, with Honda having so many problems and limitations. That was my interpretation of their decision.
So why bring the B-Spec to the last race before the summer break, giving everyone extra time to examine and study all the aero upgrades just before the break?
The logical answer, of course, is that the Hungaroring ranks as one of the least power-sensitive tracks, which mitigates Honda's power deficit. At the same time, it is a high-downforce track that rewards cornering speed and mechanical grip, so they had a lot of things to test and a lot of data to gather.
So yes, they had a lot of good reasons to bring it to Hungary, but watching the race at Zandvoort and listening to Newey's message to Alonso, another reason that I hadn't thought of occurred to me.
Again, the conspiracy theorist in me thought that maybe Newey also wanted to be 100% sure that everyone would know how much progress had been made on the aero side before the upgraded engine arrived. He wanted to avoid, at all costs, introducing the B-Spec aero in the same race as the upgraded engine because he wanted to avoid any confusion over how much of the progress came from the aero upgrades and how much came from the engine.
He may believed that his aero evolution and the leap forward could ease the pressure on Honda, making them look better than they actually were, with Honda hiding somewhat behind AMR's huge aero evolution.
Think about it. I do believe that even if the updated Honda had been 100% ready to run at Hungary, Newey would have blocked its introduction in the same race that his B-Spec aero was introduced. He wanted to make it clear to everyone that his side—the aero side—is now delivering what is expected of them, while keeping the pressure and most of the blame on Honda.
Sorry for the long post.
